Odyssey of the Four Artists
by Nonne tu hospitio receptis
Summary: Four Nerima martial artists will embark on a journey around the world. They will explore unique and exotic locations, learn new skills, powerful techniques, and grow in power. As they grow, these four will ever more powerful and skilled opponents both new and old. But, above all else, this is an action-comedy and there will be hijinks. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Change

Ranma ½ characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Odyssey of the Four Artists

Tokyo, Nerima Ward

There was dim light from the cloud covered sky and the cool feeling of water. The sound of downpour striking wood was oddly soothing to the recently awoken girl.

' _least makes my current position more bearable._ ' "Hmph." She stirred slightly, wincing in pain. ' _Hardly_ ,' thought the young girl. Velvety, candy apple, red hair loosely held in place by a messy pigtail, untethered strands sprawled out on the wet wooden floor. Round eyes as blue as her hair is red conveying emotions best understood as betrayal and wariness. Her doll like face, a bruised mask void of emotion. Lifeless, like a dam holding back what her eyes cannot. A tattered and torn, ill-fitting tuxedo sized for a young man of greater width and a head taller dawned her petite, yet well-endowed physique. Lightly scratched and cut porcelain toned skin, made lustrous by the rain water, was left bleeding by what caused her disheveled appearance.

' _How could she?_ ' The redhead thought, and then spoke to herself, "after all the things we went through." The she closes her watery eyes. Refusing to show any overt signs of weakness even when alone.

"She, of all people, knew how much a cure meant to me." The bruised girl thinks about what transpired earlier that day. A disaster of a wedding.

She tightened her closed eyes and lets out a pained sigh, "guess she's no better than the other fiancées."

' _I ain't nothin but prize to them'_ she mentally sighs again and gave dry chuckle. "a prized horse."

The rain didn't let up, but the girl didn't mind. She most likely would have fallen asleep under the debris if the sounds of struggle and shifting wreckage had not gained her attention. She knew that not many people were as durable as her, or the other martial artist. Standing up, she carefully made her way through the soggy remnants of the once great Tendo Dojo.

"You hurt?" She asks.

The shifting stopped, proving that whoever it was heard her, but there is no reply to the redhead's call.

"If you need help just say so." She states, squashing down her former thoughts to focus on the task at hand. If someone is hurt, she needs to be in a more stable emotional state. Besides, depression never suited her.

More time passed by before a single sound could be heard over the rain.

"bweeee." A weak, pained and very recognizable sound was heard by the soaked martial artist.

"Ryoga?" rhetorically asks the redhead with a mixture of surprise and confusion. Ryoga Hibiki, her strongest rival, and closest thing to a friend she has. The same friend who slammed her face into the ground at the mention of a cure to their jusenkyo curses.

Eyes narrowed dangerously, she increased her pace. Thoughts of payback fueled her battered body.

Through clenched teeth, "I'll get ya out alright, and then I'll pound ya back into the gro-." The sight before her stopped her threats and vengeful thoughts cold.

"Ryoga! Quit moving, you'll make it worse!" She said with a hint of panic in her voice. "Shit, I didn't think somethin like this was possible for you!"

Before her lay a small black piglet with a tiger print bandana as a collar. What caught her off guard was the two obviously broken legs, a large bruise covering the left side of his body and head, and a bloody laceration going along the left side of his face.

The worried girl stripped off her ruined tuxedo jacket and oversized suit pants. She ripped the ruined fabric into sheets to help deal with the bleeding from the laceration. The girl carefully takes up the piglet, so as to not disturb the broken limbs too much. Making a split-second decision she leaves the Tendo Compound to make her way to Dr. Tofu's Clinic. Even though hot water can be easily found in the Tendo residence three facts settle in her mind. 1, they needed proper medical attention as soon as possible. 2, It was still raining cold water. 3, She did not want to see Akane right now.

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Foot traffic was light due to the rain, so not many people saw the sparsely dressed redhead lightly hopping from rooftop to rooftop with an injured piglet nestled against her pillowy mounds.

"We're almost there Ryoga," said girl, her voice steeled with sobriety. "Doc. Tofu'll fix you up, no problem." She looks down to see her shirt turning red with blood from Ryoga's nose. "Dammit, must be internal bleeding. The hell happened to you?"

They land in front of a Tofu Ono's Clinic. A waist high stone wall topped with a chain-link fence separates the sidewalk from the large bushes and thick foliage that surround the clinic. The building is of a more modern design with roof access and a single hanging light above the main entrance. A standing rectangular prism sign with the words 'Acupuncture' and 'Moxibustion' is positioned outside.

The girl makes her way to through the front door loudly proclaiming her presence.

"Doc., we need your help, it's serious!"

Before she even finished her call for help a tall, personable man came out of the back to see what was wrong.

His light brown hair tied back a short ponytail leaving only his split bangs free. The man's square, cleanly shaved, face immediately hardened into one born from years of working in the medical field. His kind, black eyes showed even more intelligence and wisdom than his profession denotes. The glasses only served to make him look smarter.

His apparel was plain, professional, and functional for his line of work.

A loose, grey, short-sleeved Gi exposing a portion of his well-defined chest. Matching grey cotton pants with the hems hugging his ankles. On his feet are solid black martial art slippers. Common among practitioners of martial arts.

The sight before him caused him to pause slightly.

Ranma Saotome, in his female form, drench from head to toe due to the rain and covered in cuts and bruises. Wearing nothing but a ruined, formerly, white button-down dress shirt stained with blood and her male form's boxers as impromptu hot pants. Held in her arm protectively, was a black piglet that looks to be in serious need of medical attention.

"Ranma, what happened to you two?" Dr. Tofu asks, cataloging all of the visible injuries he can see.

"It ain't me you gotta worry about doc." Ranma gestures to the piglet "It's Ryoga, two of his legs are broken, he's bruised, and somethin smashed his face open." Ranma gives Dr. Tofu a better look.

Dr. Tofu confirms Ranma's assessment of the piglet's injuries, and then the name he heard registers.

"Ryoga? Isn't he that young man you often fight with?" Dr. Tofu asks receiving a conformation nod. ' _Must be another Jusenkyo victim_ ,' He thinks to himself.

"That's good to know, I will get some warm water for you two. In the meantime, set him down on the examination table in room 3." The good doctor directed as he headed off to the kitchen.

Ranma made her way over to room 3 to put Ryoga on the medical table.

"Don't worry Ryoga. The doc'll have you up trying to punch my face in, in no time." She tried to reassure the glazy eyed piglet with his favorite pastime.

Ryoga was still recovering from the astonishment caused by Ranma's actions. He was sure that his rival would have finished him off for what he did at the wedding.

As Ryoga's mind slowly rebooted itself he was finally able to think 'clearly' again. ' _CURSE YOU RANMA! BECAUSE OF YOU I'VE SEEN…seen._ ' The battle between a memory induced nosebleed and an ironclad power of will, reinforced by the unrelenting force of hatred for one Ranma Saotome, was one for the history books.

Then Ryoga made the grave mistake of opening and refocusing his eyes. What he saw before him will haunt his dreams for the foreseeable future.

Ranma, looking down at him not with indifference marring her features, or that insufferable smirk that makes you want to beat her into a fist induced coma. No, what Ryoga saw was a well-breasted, redheaded beauty looking down upon him with concern, backlit by a ceiling lights to give her a sense of divinity. Beautiful blue eyes filled with more worry than he has ever received in his short life of 17 years. It was a blatant contrast to what he normally saw from his most hated rival, and what he experienced when Akane discovered his curse earlier. Ryoga could only think of one thing when looking up at Ranma-chan.

' _Wow_.'

From a combination of visual and mental overload, blood lose, and the pain from a few broken limbs. Ryoga passed out.

It was at this time that Dr. Tofu made his way into the room with a pitcher of warm water.

"Good, Ranma hop up onto the other bed. I will take a look at your injuries when I am finish with Ryoga." Dr. Tofu made a placating gesture before the brash redhead could protest. "What ever happened at the wedding didn't leave you unscathed either. I know you heal fast and have not needed my help since that **Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion** debacle, but as long as you are hear and hurt, you WILL be under my care." Dr. Tofu made sure there was no room for debate.

Opening and closing her mouth to try and say something against the carrying doctor. Ranma paused as something Dr. Tofu said jumped out at her, but she couldn't place exactly was bothered her.

Ranma-chan finally gave in to the doctor's demands. "Fine, but can I get some of that water first?

Pouring the warm water over both of the cursed fighters. Dr. Tofu paid Ryoga's transformation more attention, having yet to see it in action.

Ranma transform black into his birth form. A young man with wavy, raven black hair hardly held together in a messy pigtail. The same blue eyes from his female form with a more masculine shape to them. His attractive face, lightly scarred along the edges from claw marks, retained a boyish charm. The muscles on his body are lithe, yet dense. The most obvious deference, besides the hair color and curves, is the sudden growth in height. No longer a tempting venus of 4'11, he had grown into young man of 5'5.

Ryoga was unconscious as his body also changed. The piglet cursed martial artist was naked due to the loss of his clothes from his earlier transformation. His extremely dark, hunter green hair had a wild look to it. Neck length hair held in place by his tiger print bandana. This kept his unkempt bangs to fall down to his closed eyes. His mouth, slightly opened revealed large canines. On the left side of Ryoga's rugged face a long laceration stretched along the left side of his jaw to his temple. The bruise continued along his broad-shouldered body, muscled left arm and leg. Ryoga grew to about the same size as Ranma's male form.

Dr. Tofu saw that the smaller cuts along their heads and bodies grew in proportion their human/male forms.

While tending to Ryoga's injuries, Dr. Tofu says to the now male Ranma. "You know Ranma. Your female body is just as much a part of you as your male half. I'd look in to getting a physical if I were you. You would not want there to be anything wrong with your female half, now would you?" The Dr. knew what Ranma's answer would be beforehand, but he wanted to keep Ranma talking. Maybe it would give him a clue as to how Ryoga ended up in such a state. He knew Ranma was not the type to brutalize a person for attacking him.

The cursed boy blanched at the mental image of someone giving his girl side a checkup. "I'd rather not have it in the first place. I wouldn't have it right now if wasn't bacon-brains over there hadn't helped crash the wedding." Ranma realizes what was so off about what Dr. Tofu said earlier. _'Wait, the wedding was supposed to be private. How'd doc. Know about it?'_

"Uh doc., how'd you know about the wedding? I didn't even know about it until I was practically at the altar." The raven-haired boy finished with a sour tone.

Dr. Tofu frowned in confusion at what he just heard.

Pressing a few shiatsu points to keep Ryoga unconscious, he answered. "I received an invitation like all the other guests, but I had an influx of patients around the time of the wedding." Hmmm. ' _This boy's left arm and leg seemed to have suffered from a heavy blunt force impact from a wide-faced tool_.'

"You say you didn't know about the wedding? I would have figured, it being yours and Akane's big day and all, that you would have been one of the first to know about it." Dr. Tofu's eyes widen in surprise. ' _This damage looks to be Akane's work, but why would she such a thing? These wounds could have easily been fatal. I know she can get a little tempermental, but this is too far_.'

Ranma scoffed. "Nope, the fathers bashed me over the head." Ranma's temper rose at the recollection of the events leading up to the wedding. "Worst of all, Akane was in on it! She knew that there was another cask of Nannīchuan." ' _To think I actually started to like the damn tomboy_.' The pigtailed boy thought.

' _It appears that Akane hit him while he was in his piglet form. In his human form Ryoga's Ki has reinforced his bones, skin, and left frequently, almost constantly, used pathways throughout his head, torso, and limbs._ ' Dr. Tofu continued to work on realigning Ryoga's bones when Ranma's words registered in his mind. "I would have guessed that the fathers would do something like that, but Akane is…was such a sweet child. I am still having a hard time imagining her doing something so…so underhanded." Had the doctor not been so busy with his patient. He would have started recalling fond memories of a kind-hearted little girl.

Ranma physically drooped, "I'd have expected the other fiancées to do somethin like this."

' _Hmm, since his bones were broken while in his cursed form he will have to stay that way for a portion of his healing process. At least until the soft callus formation finishes.'_ Dr. Tofu could not believe that the sweet girl he watched grow up would do something like this. "Ranma, do you know how Ryoga got these injuries?" Dr. Tofu asked while finishing up Ryoga's treatment, keeping his mask of neutrality up.

"No clue, I found him like that in a pile of rubble." Ranma replied with a shrug.

Dr. Tofu nodded at what Ranma told him, "All right, that is as much I can do for Ryoga at the moment. I will be right with you Ranma, I just need to make some notes."

"Just don't turn me into a pretzel when you're treating me doc." Said Ranma while practically oozing mirth.

Dr. Tofu couldn't help but smile at Ranma's jest. "So, tell me Ranma, are you still planning on marrying Akane after what happened?"

Shoulders slightly slumped, as his depressed state returned, Ranma answered, "Honestly doc., I think I'm gonna break off the engagement." He sighed before continuing. "When she threatened to let me stay cursed for the rest of my life…I…h-how can I trust someone who would do somethin like that? That's not even includin her temper, jealousy, and the fact that she thinks I'm her personal punchin bag."

' _The cuts and bruises seemed to have grown with the activation of his curse. I guess Ranma and Ryoga are 'in the same boat' as they say._ ' Dr. Tofu applied some disinfectant but held off on the bandages. "That is too bad to hear, but given what you have told me I can understand why you would make that decision."

"Yeah, I was startin to think it would work between us. The other problem is that the engagement would be moved over to Nabiki. She's more likely to sell me off than make that work." Ranma visibly and mentally shudders at the thought. He subconsciously started to speak about the eldest Tendo sister. "Kasumi is more likaaAArGH!"

At the sound of someone screaming in pain, Dr. Tofu snapped out of his love induced insanity, but it was too late. A pretzel shaped Ranma lay before him twitching in intense pain.

Through clenched teeth. "Really doc.?!"

"Oh no! I'll get you fixed up right away!" ' _I really need to find out how my father got over his 'love sickness!'_ ' Dr. Tofu sighed, "I am so, so sorry for that. Here, I'll make it up to you." The bespectacled doctor rose to the nearby bookshelf. "I know how much you like learning new martial art techniques, so here are a few books on shiatsu points. I am also currently working on a few scrolls of techniques that I created or made more effective. When I am able to make more copies, I want you to have the originals.

Now depretzelified, Ranma's eyes widened at the sound of new techniques, "Really? Thanks doc." The unfolded boy said with a smile.

Dr. Tofu's eyes widened at that. "You really should not be thanking me." He tried to wave off the gratitude. ' _This boy…,'_ The doctor thought to himself in astonishment.

"Why not? It's not like you did anything too bad. The porker's done far worse and I still consider him my best friend."

Dr. Tofu could only stare with his mouth wide open.

"by the way doc., why haven't you bandaged us up yet?" Ranma asked.

Broken from his stunned state, the now bewildered doctor answered. "Oh um, it appears that your curses will alter how fast you will heal from your injuries. In Ryoga's case, He will have to stay in his piglet form for the duration of his healing process. In your case, you will have to stay female until you are healed, so as to not disturb the bandages." Dr. Tofu placated Ranma before he could argue against staying female. "Of course, since your Ki reservoir remains the same in either form, your naturally fast healing will not be nullified by the curse. Coupled with the fact that your female form makes you injuries smaller. I would have to say that the time it will take to heal will be insignificant for you."

Ranma mildly frowned at the idea of staying in his female form for any extended amount of time. "How long?"

"Not long at all. With your Ki? I would say two days, at the most." Was Dr. Tofu's answer.

"Really? That's all? You had me worried there for a second doc." Ranma reached for the now cold pitcher of water.

"Before you transform I would suggest you change into some more decent clothing. You would not want to run around practically naked as you are now." Dr. Tofu gestured to Ranma's appearance.

The cursed boy shrugged and replies "Sure, if ya got anything to wear." _'Please don't be anything girly, please don't be anything girly, please don't be anything girly.'_

Rubbing his chin, "Well, my nieces' left some of their old clothes-" the good doctor was immediately cut off from finishing his statement.

Hands positioned in warding signs, "no way, can't I borrow any of your clothes?" Ranma asked.

"I am sorry Ranma, but my clothes would not fit you, even as you are now. My cousin's clothes cannot too bad," reassured Dr. Tofu. "While you find something to wear I am going to finish treating Ryoga."

' _He just had to say, 'cannot be too bad_ ,' Ranma thought as he made his way to get some cool water before heading upstairs.

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15 minutes later at Tofu Ono's Clinic

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Dr. Tofu and a now awakened Ryoga Hibiki are discussing the parameters of Ryoga's healing process, and why he has to stay in his piglet form.

"So, I'll heal faster as a pig?" Asked a conscious Ryoga Hibiki. A sheet covering him from the waist down.

"That is correct." Confirmed Dr. Tofu, "though I am sorry to say that it will take about a week before you can return to your human form."

A depressing aura leaked out of Ryoga body, ' _with my luck I'll wind up at the Tendos' and get flattened by Akane again. Not like I don't deserve it._ ' Depressingly thought the piglet cursed boy. "Let's get it over with." Ryoga said as he poured the last of the cool water pitcher on himself.

The work that Dr. Tofu did while Ryoga was human translate fairly well to his piglet form. Only some minor adjustments, and Ryoga was ready to leave. All they were waiting on was Ranma.

A few more minutes past and Dr. Tofu had already compiled the books he promised and a few scrolls he had managed to make copies for. footsteps could be heard coming towards the room and stopping at the door. There was a slight pause at the door before it opened revealing Ranma-chan.

Both males in the room gave her the classic feet-first introduction.

Black, booties with red, medium wedge style heels. Translucent black thigh length stockings with a red flame pattern on the hem. A mid-thigh length black, grey, and brilliant red checkered pleat skirt. Tight, black long sleeve peplum blazer lined with red plume feathers around the low-cut collar, showing ample amounts of cleavage. Black leather gloves lined with the same red feathers, and a close red umbrella in her left hand. Her regally pale skinned face set with a glare, enhancing her sapphire blue eyes, giving her a cute yet dangerous look. Long red hair held in a loose wavy ponytail. The outfit somehow managed to cover most of her bandages.

"Are you guys done staring yet," Ranma asked in annoyance. ' _Geez, they're acting like they haven't seen me 'dressed up' before_.'

Dr. Tofu was the first to snap back into his right mind. "Uh, were there not any other clothes? Less um," struggling to find the words. "Eye-catching."

"Trust me doc. This was the most decent outfit I was able to put together." ' _like I'm wearing ANY of that other stuff._ ' She thinks to herself. "Hey doc., how old did you say your nieces were?"

"Oh, Michiko, Masumi, and Kyoko are actually a few years older than me." Dr. Tofu answered.

Ryoga and Ranma-chan both looked at the doctor with shared expressions of confusion. _'That can happen?'_ Were their collective thoughts.

Dr. Tofu then grabs the books and scrolls he promised and hands them over to Ranma. "I'll have the rest of the scrolls finished by the time you come back." He says with a smile.

"Thanks again doc. I can't wait to get started on these!" The excited redhead thanked the kind doctor.

"No problem at all." Dr. Tofu picked up the bandaged, stitched, and splinted piglet. "Here, I trust you'll help him recover and keep him out of harms way. He his much more vulnerable not only with his injuries, but with having to stay in his cursed form. I trust that you will protect him, right?"

Ranma-chan takes Ryoga from the doctor and puts him on top of the stack of books she is carrying. "You have my word as a martial artist." She turns to make her way towards the exit and calls out. "I'll be sure the return the clothes when I get the chance."

"No need, my nieces outgrew them before graduating collage."

' _Meh, a free costume_.' Ranma-chan shrugs then smirks, ' _I wonder how much ice cream I can 'liberate' looking like this._ '

Ice cream vendors, parlors, and truck drivers the world over shuddered in sudden inexplicable fear.

Ranma-chan unfurled the bamboo umbrella and headed back to the Tendo Dojo. Before Ryoga could tell where they were going Ranma-chan teased. "Guess I'm stuck with ya for a week P-chan. I Hope you're potty trained." She snickered to herself and would have continued if Ryoga had not tried jumped at her face.

BWEEEEE! (RAMNA PREPARE TO DIE!)

With speed born from years of hard training, various speed enhancing techniques, the greater speeds of her cursed form, and meals with Genma Saotome, Ranma-chan knock Ryoga out cold with 143 subsonic strikes to the head, via umbrella handle. All for the sake keeping him from further injuring himself.

Watching the lump on the piglet's head grow, ' _Damn, he really is a lot weaker as a piglet_.'

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The Tendo Compound was a throwback to less modernized architecture in terms of design. A tall privacy wall that surrounds the complex. Tall, medium and small plants dotted the landscape and the sizable koi pond. The main house itself was of a more traditional design with a modern touch to add to the inhabitances' comfort. The main building was 2 stories tall with an L-shaped design, and a roofed walkway connects the dojo to the house.

Exiting the kitchen, a homely young woman walked over to the family room. Long Brown hair kept in an over-the-shoulder style ponytail, secured in a white bow. The woman's brown eyes, normally filled with kindness, were set with worry. Her cute face took on an expression akin to that of motherly concern. Her body was kept in shape from the constant chores she performed on a daily basis. A light pink frilly pinafore apron covered her shoulderless, baby blue dress of modest design. She was nearly a picture-perfect visage of a housewife.

"Has anyone seen Ranma? It would be such a shame for him to miss dinner." The young woman asked to those before her.

"Let him starve for all I care!" Came an angry voice belonging short haired bluenette. A menacing scowl marring her otherwise cute face. Brown eyes, practically screaming a promise of pain to anyone and anything that sets her off, and her lips were set in a frown. From the way her body fit into her apparel. An observer could see that she routinely works out. Her clothes consisted of a pair of pink overalls and a white t-shirt. Sleeves rolled up revealing fairly muscled arms.

"He's probably run off with one of his hussies." She shakes her fist in rage. "It's all because of him, and his two-timing, that the dojo's been destroyed. He doesn't even have the decency to fix it!" ' _Why can't that pervert think about someone other than himself for once? Idiot!_ '

"Now, now Akane, I'm sure Ranma is off setting those other girls straight about who his true fiancée is." This came from a stoic mustachioed man. His Long flowing black hair falling free along his back. His dark grey martial artist Gi ensemble, pristinely kept. His muscles defined and powerful, even from a decade of disuse. His face, chiseled from the years of hardship under the perverted Grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts. He would have been a true spitting image of manliness, had it not been for the waterworks shooting from his eyes. ' _The Dojo! The schools! My beloved wife's shrine! WAAAGH!_ '

"Ranma looked pretty hurt at the wedding, I hope he's ok." The motherly girl says while heading back to finish preparing dinner.

' _Now he's making Kasumi worry! I'll pound him into next week!_ ' Thinks Akane, visibly shaking with rage at seeing her loving sister saddened.

*Knock Knock Knock* Sounded the front door.

"I'll get it," Kasumi called to the rest of the household. ' _Maybe it's Ranma._ '

When Kasumi opened the door, she was treated to a sight. Ranma in his female form dressed up in a flirtatiously girly outfit. In her arms was a bandaged P-Chan peacefully 'sleeping.'

"Oh my, Ranma come in. I hope P-Chan is ok." Kasumi let Ranma-chan inside

"Thanks Kasumi." Ranma-chan said as she came inside and put away her new umbrella. "No need to worry Doc. Tofu fixed him up." She showed off the expert bandage work. "Whatever you're cooking smells great by the way." Ranma-chan said as her stomach, 'The Pit,' made itself known. Supremely embarrassed, the redheaded girl fiddled with her ponytail, "Hehehe, I guess I'm pretty hungry."

"Oh yes, dinner is almost ready." Kasumi said with a bright smile.

"You're best, Kas-chan." Ranma smile at the young women who has taken up the role of older sister to the formerly wandering martial artist. "Can I put these some place safe?" Gesturing to the scrolls and books. "Doc. gave me these, and I don't want pops stealin them."

"No need to worry, Uncle Saotome left with Auntie to return back to their newly built home." Kasumi informed the shorter girl. "Uncle Saotome was quite clear about not wanting Auntie to live alone anymore." Kasumi smiled and nodded at what she said. _'It was good to see Uncle actually showing care for someone other than himself. It is so rare, but heartwarming none the less.'_

"That's good to hear." Visibly relieved at the news, "call me down when dinners ready." Ranma-chan called to Kasumi. ' _Now I just need to get something less…girly…to wear._ '

Making her way into the guest bedroom, Ranma set down the books and scrolls into their respective piles along the wall. Ryoga was placed on the dresser as Ranma-chan went on to search for something else to wear.

As Ranma was getting undressed, the door to her room was violently thrown wide open. Standing in the doorway was an irate Akane Tendo.

After Kasumi let the rest household know that Ranma was back, Akane made way to chew out her fiancé with the compelling help of Mallet-sama. That is until she saw the perverted bastard in front of her. The bluenette saw her, currently female, fiancé topless pulling off a surprised, 'looking over the shoulder' pose.

Akane put 2 and 2 together and got 13.

"RANMA NO HENTAI!," Akane yelled at the shorter girl. Charging with the power and form of a graceless gorilla, Mallet-sama cocked, and all sense of logic gone. Akane wanted this to be a lesson Ranma never forgot.

A new Ranma-chan shape hole would have been made in the roof had it not been for one sound.

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Ryoga was having the most satisfying dream for as long as he can remember. Ranma and himself were sparring on a scale that made the Saffron fight look like a run-of-the-mill squabble between two novices by comparison. Secluded on an island out in the middle nowhere. The island itself was stunning. Molded by past training sessions, spars, and battles between rivals and friends. The once jagged cliffs and treacherous seashores were eroded into smooth rockfaces and finely powdered beaches. The lake, blasted into existence years ago, was teeming with fish. Rich plant life feeding off of the rich, Ki saturated, soil. The scarred mountain that had seen and withstood ground shattering impacts stood tall. It looked over the combatants as if to judge their skill in comparison to those from before. Had the mountain actually been able to, it would have shirked away to some place safe.

Ryoga was happy. He did not know why he had this feeling of comradery for someone he hated so much. There were other odd things from earlier in his dream. When he was talking with Mousse and Tatewaki about newly developed techniques and a library. Mousse had not brought up Shampoo once in their conversation, and every time Ryoga brought her up Mousse became agitated and hostile. Talking with Tatewaki was very…unusual. The swordsman still spoke with a Shakespearean vernacular but lack the overbearing insanity that was projected when he opened his mouth. Ryoga also noticed a few other things like height, clothes, tones of their voices, and their general aura, but he was unable to focus on these aspects.

"Have you gotten weaker? You know how I feel about beating weaklings." Taunted the woman known a Ranma Saotome. This surprised him. He could have sworn that Ranma was a guy a few seconds ago. They hadn't even been near any bodies of water, and it was a clear blue sky.

"Hmph", Ryoga snorted. ' _pathetic_.' "I know for a fact that you can come up with some better insult, Ranma." Ryoga said while resting his solid metal Gada on his shoulder. _'When did I get this?'_ Ryoga inspected his new weapon further. _'It's pretty nice though.'_

"I'll do that when you come up with a new war-cry." Saotome shot back with an infuriating smirk.

That, ticked Ryoga off.

' _My war-cry is perfect the way it is! How dare that bastard criticize it!_ ' Fists balled with anger, Ryoga said the only thing that came to his mind.

"Ranma! For insulting my war cry! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Glowing a brilliant red of fiery passion, Ryoga shot towards the buxom beauty at speeds that surpassed that of a bolt of lightning. Saotome, glowing a powerful yet calm blue, took off towards Ryoga matching his speed with ease. An audible boom of the sound barrier being broken could be heard for miles in every direction. The earth beneath their feet ruptured, cracked and melted from the sheer speed of their initial foot falls. The friction against very air itself engulfed their bodies with intense fire. Fire that did not even faze them in the slightest.

Before either martial artist could make contact, Ryoga was woken up by a loud yell.

"RANMA NO HENTAI!"

"Bweeee bwee… (quiet down, I'm trying to…")

A number of things registered in Ryoga's mind immediately when he opened his porcine eyes. First, he was at the Tendo Compound. That was bad. Second, Akane was in the same room as him. That was Very Bad. Third, Akane sees him. That was very, very bad. Fourth, Akane's mallet was out. Ryoga huddled in a small trembling ball. He was scared stiff. His short, painfully lonely life as a wandering lost boy/piglet flashed before his eyes. The good, the bad, the embarrassing, it was all laid out in front of him _. 'Wow, my life sucked.'_

Akane was seeing red. She not only caught Ryoga in her house after everything he did, but she caught him peeping on her fiancé as she was taking off her clothes. A girl that Ryoga knows is actually a guy.

Akane came to one deduction.

"RYOGA NO HENTAI BUTA!"

Switching the target of her punishment. Akane ran towards the crippled piglet aiming to turn him into pork paste.

Her Ki mallet raised above her head ready to come down with meteoric force.

Before Akane could finish off the target of her ire a red blur sped into the path of her mallet strike. The amount of force behind her swing would not allow her to stop even if she wanted to. Whatever it was that decided to get in her way would be crush along with Ryoga.

 ***Crack!***

That is what would have happened had the mallet not been stopped in place mere inches away from Ranma-chan's face.

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Seconds earlier

' _What did I do now!?'_ Thought Ranma. ' _Her and that damned mallet..._ ' The doomed redhead closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable force to nock her back out into the rain.

That was until she heard something strange.

"RYOGA NO HENTAI BUTA!"

' _Wait, she knows Ryoga's P-Chan? It's about damn time. I was beginnin to think that she was even more dense than Pork-Butt himself.'_ Ranma thinks as she opens her eyes.

She sees Akane dashing towards Ryoga with her mallet raised _. 'Heh, serves him right for all the times I was hit because of his P-Chan act.'_ Ranma thinks vindictively but remembers that Ryoga can't defend himself right now.

Her eyes widen in alarm _, 'Shit! Ryoga's already hurt. I can't let Akane hit him like he is!'_ Ranma-chan though while already on the move.

Running just fast enough to not damage the floor beneath her feet. The redhead position herself in front of Akane. A split millisecond before the mallet struck her, Ranma-chan threw her hand forward with enough intensity to leave a deep imprint of her hand on the face of the mallet.

 ***Crack!***

"What do you think you're doing to P-Chan, 'Kane?" Ranma-chan asks while looking Akane straight in the eyes. "I can barely understand why you hit me all the time, but to start hitting P-Chan for no reason is just mean. I mean, I usually wait for him to bite me first, and I'd never hit him like he is now." She gestures to P-Chan's bandaged and splinted body.

Akane was taken aback by Ranma-chan's actions. ' _He…he stopped my mallet?_ '

Her rage took a temporary backseat. Akane mentally went over what Ranma-chan just said to her.

"What do you mean, 'What am I doing!?' I caught Ryoga peeping on you while you were being perverted with your girl form!" Akane yelled at Ranma.

"I was not!" Ranma yelled back. Immediately set of defending herself from the accusation of being a pervert.

"I saw you taking your clothes off, you pervert!" Hollered Akane

"I was changing, you uncute tomboy!" Retorted Ranma-chan.

"That doesn't matter, baka! You were letting Ryoga watch you!" The bluenette points to the wide-eyed piglet.

' _If I stay quiet, I might survive._ ' Thought Ryoga

"That's P-Chan. Last time I checked P-Chan was a pig and Ryoga was a human." The redhead said with a straight face. _'Heh, it's not a lie if it's true.'_

"P-Chan. Is. Ryoga!" Akane bellowed.

Ranma-chan looks over her shoulder at P-Chan. "Hey P-Chan? Are you Ryoga?"

Slowly, P-Chan shook his head to say no.

"See, I told you Ryoga is a human and P-Chan is a piglet." Ranma-chan smiled and nodded sagely at Akane. "Now can I finish changing, or should we talk about why YOU were peeking in on me?"

Akane's face was a mixture of confusion and incredulity but changed to indignation once she heard Ranma-chan's accusation. "I DID NOT PEEP IN ON YOU!" Akane boomed down towards the shorter girl.

"Then why'd you barge in on me, knowing that I could've been getting dressed. In either form?" Ranma took a thinking pose when she finished her question.

Akane wanted to retort. She wanted to demand where Ranma was, why she was wearing girly clothes, why she was protecting P-Chan, when did she get strong enough to stop her mallet, and why did she let the others ruin their wedding. Their perfect day… Before she could say anything Ranma-chan interrupted her thoughts.

"If you're not going to tell me why. I'd like to finish getting changed." The topless redhead told the taller girl.

Akane glared at P-Chan before turning and stomping towards the door. Akane told the cursed boy one thing before leaving the guestroom. "BAKA!"

Once Ranma heard Akane's bedroom door slam shut. She continued to change into some more familiar apparel.

"So, she knows…" Ranma-chan stated while removing her skirt to reveal a tight pair of men's boxers that hugged her hips and behind.

More depressed than usual Ryoga replied. "Bwee" (yeah).

Now that things have cooled down. Ryoga turns to face the wall to avoid looking at Ranma-chan getting changed. He may dislike his rival for all the pranks and joke she has at his expense, but even he has trouble ignoring her body when not enraged or annoyed with her.

Ranma nods. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on staying here. I was thinking about going on a training trip to get stronger incase another 'Saffron' comes along." Ranma checks over herself as she pulls out a pair of black drawstring cotton pants. "Since I'm taking care of you, you're coming too."

"Bwee (huh)?" Ryoga oinked in confusion.

Ignoring Ryoga's reply, due to not understanding piglet speak, Ranma continued to speak.

"I can't stay here anymore. It doesn't feel like…a home anymore. Not after that 'wedding.'' Ranma-chan says as she ties off her silk kung fu vest with a black sash. Due to her smaller body. The vest fits more like a short sleeve shirt.

Ryoga give Ranma-chan a questioning look. _'Where is he going with this?'_

The redhead pulled up her oversized pants and tightened the strings on her waist and ankles. "From the very first day I got here it's been uphill with the Tendos, excluding Kasumi. I'm breakin off the engagement. I'd rather work on my martial arts than marry someone who can't trust me, uses me money, or is like a sister to me."

Ranma-chan finished getting dressed while Ryoga digested what he was told. ' _He's finally giving up on Akane?_ ' Ryoga nearly cried out in joy until he remembered that Akane hates him…

Once finished adjusting her clothes. Ranma moved to start packing away her new scrolls and books into her travel pack's secret compartment. ' _I need to get Mousse to teach me his_ _ **Hidden Weapons Technique**_. Ranma-chan thinks to herself.

"Dinner is ready!" Kasumi calls to those upstairs.

Taking up the slightly shaking piglet, Ranma-chan bulleted out of the guest bedroom towards the family room.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Those already seated in the family room were treated to the familiar sight of a red blur passing by them, and materializing as the walking stomach takes up a seating position. The other occupants in the room, excluding one sniffling, teary-eyed man, noticed that the gender cursed house guest was sitting further away from Akane, and that she was holding the bluenette's piglet. Out of the three people who saw Ranma only two took note of the oddities before them.

First was the diminutive Grandmaster of **Anything Goes Martial arts** **,** Happosai. Infamous for his hedonistic lechery and thievery. Grandmaster Happosai has stolen the panties, bras, and lingerie from the female populace of the Nerima District on a near constant basis since his release from a sealed and warded cave. The choice target of his perverted attacks is Ranma Saotome, the gender-cursed martial artist. The impish old man does not view Ranma as a true female, so he considerably less gentle with his assaults.

Excluding the tuffs of hair on the sides of his head and his pencil thin mustache, Happosai is bald. A dark maroon two-piece martial arts gi makes up his apparel. Grandmaster Happosai is patiently seated at the table awaiting dinner to be served.

The second was the middle Tendo sister. Nabiki Tendo well known for extortion, racketing, blackmail, information gathering and selling voyeuristic photographs of her younger sister Akane and house guest Ranma, in both of his forms. Unbeknownst to the latter of the two unwitting victims. Ranma, under the handles of 'Wild Stallion' and 'Red Maiden,' has managed to obtain a sizable following due to Nabiki's expanse into the global market of voyeuristic erotica.

The aspiring businesswoman wore her brown hair in a neat neck-length bob style. A money-tree green crop-top, pink short-sleeve t-shirt combo covered her torso. White high-waisted denim shorts reached down to her mid-thigh. Her calculating eyes scanning the shorter girl for anything monetizable.

When Akane arrived, she chose to ignore Ranma until the cursed boy begged for forgiveness, and gave her that damned pig.

Seconds after Ranma arrived with P-Chan. Kasumi made her way into the family room with dinner, and set out to serve mouth-watering Euro-Japanese cuisines. The food itself was made with more high-quality ingredients than normal. No doubt enhanced even further by Kasumi's borderline divine cooking skill. The only negative, minor as it may be, was that the style of food did poke at the fresh memories from the failed European style wedding.

After Kasumi finished serving everyone. Dinner proceeded as normal, but at slower pace for those with more emotional hang-ups about events from earlier.

Ranma-chan ate at a pace where even nonmartial artists could follow her hands. The lack of a certain gluttonous panda helped substantially. The redhead made sure to feed P-Chan every now and then. Actually, treating the human-turned-piglet like a pet for once. Ryoga would have made his displeasure known if the food wasn't so damn good. Akane giving him the stink eye helped too.

A few minutes passed after the initial praise for the gourmet foods.

Kasumi looked at the bandaged and splinted black piglet that her youngest sister adored so much. From P-Chan, Kasumi's gazed a Ranma's bandages.

"Ranma, will you and P-Chan be ok? I know the wedding got…out of hand, but I did not know it was this bad." Kasumi asked with maternal concern.

As the younger girl was about to answer, and boast a little, Akane decided to butt in.

"Why do you care about that perverted jerk!?" Akane glared at her fiancé holding a soon to be dead pet piglet.

Kasumi was confused by Akane's words. She knew that her little sister could be a tad rude to Ranma, but she has never shown P-Chan any malice before.

The cursed houseguest then shot back against the slander of his character. "I ain't a pervert, and what do you have against P-Chan?"

"You know what I have against that **PIG**!" Akane pointed to the human-turned-piglet and visibly becoming more enraged at his continued existence.

Ryoga began to tremble with fear. _'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ~,'_ he continuously repeated mentally.

"Oh my," came a surprised Kasumi.

Ranma-chan sighed, looked Akane in the eyes, and said, "When I found him, it looked like someone tried to kill him." Ranma stared at Akane for a few quiet seconds before continuing. "I know how tough he is. Some wood falling on him isn't going to do much damage." Ranma-chan closed her eyes in thought. After a single second, the scapegoat of Nerima opened her eyes to grant her fiancée a sour look. Gradually increasing in volume and intensity Ranma-chan said, "whatever hit P-Chan was large, heavy, blunt, and backed by a lot of strength. Going by how P-Chan's been actin around you 'Kane. I have a pretty good idea who it was that did this to him, and I know if I didn't stop you earlier you would've **killed** him!"

Akane along with the others present, even Ryoga, were taken aback in various degrees by this rare display of irritation from the ponytailed martial artist.

Of those least effected by the redhead's verbal broadside was Nabiki. She quickly broke from her surprise to said. "And you care so much about the pig, Saotome." Practically dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't hate him. Sure, he pisses me off biting me all the time, but I ain't gonna do more than get even," Ranma easily stating back. "'Sides, I made a promise to Dr. Tofu that I'd take care of him until he gets better, and unlike a certain tomboy, I keep my promises." Ranma-chan returned to her dinner after saying her piece.

Though Ryoga knew that Akane hated him. That little jab at his once upon a time crush ticked him off a bit. The fact that Ranma-chan was protecting him put ice on that inferno. _'I'll clobber you later for that.'_ He thought, but forgot as soon as Ranma fed him some rice.

The verbal jabs in what Ranma said didn't sit too well with the short tempered bluenette either. A throwback to the first day she came to the Tendo's. Akane motioned to grab the table to and beat her fiancé over the head with it, again, but one person halted her assault.

"AHEM!" Sounded Soun Tendo. "Kasumi must have worked really hard on this dinner for us, and I would hate to see go to waste." At the mention of her kindly older sister Akane's rage was put on the backburner, for now. "Also, if what Ranma said is true about how you treat your pet. I am afraid I'll have to give it away." This statement reignited her anger. Soun takes this opportunity to look at P-Chan's reaction to Akane's attitude. Sigh _, 'Ranma was telling the truth. This something I cannot let slide by.'_

"But that's n-!" Akane was cut off by a wave of her father's hand.

"No buts Akane, judging by how your, **former** , pet is reacting to your behavior, I believe Ranma was indeed telling the truth. Beating Ranma is one thing."

"huh?" Came the petite punching bag.

"he can take it," continued Soun.

"thanks…I guess." Ranma did not know how to fell about what she just heard.

"Beating small animals, especially young animals who can't defend themselves, is unacceptable behavior." Decreed the Tendo patriarch. "I believe that is enough of this discussion. Let's change the conversation to something else."

"BUT THAT PIG IS R-!" Akane tried to get out one last statement to defend herself.

" **ENOUGH** , enough Akane. I am **very** disappointed in you right now. We're moving to a different topic, and that is final." Tears stream down the mustachioed man's face as he harshly speaks to his youngest daughter. Almost as if being firm with her causes himself physical pain.

The last three words shouted by Akane before she ran to her room sent the emotional sensitive man into a crying fit.

"I HATE YOU!"

Soun was left bawling his eyes out and wailed, "WAAAH! MY DAUGHTER HATES ME!

Those nearby had to move their food away before it was soaked with tears. Kasumi set to console her father to limited success. The combination of recent events has taken its toll on him. His wife's shrine being destroyed, his dojo crumbling, and his youngest daughter's declaration of hatred. It will take a lot of consoling, saké, and cigarettes before he is back to 'normal.'

The other people, Ryoga include, seated at the table tried their best to ignore Soun's all too common outburst. Though Ranma and Ryoga had a harder time than the others blocking out the lamentations of someone they were at least on good terms with. Relatively speaking.

When the waterworks lost their overpowering quality Soun was able to compose himself. Hoping for good news to brighten his mood. The teary-eyed man spoke to his prospective son-in-law about the one thing that could bring him even smidgen of happiness after everything that occurred.

"Son, the wedding today may not have been what we hoped for, but I am sure the next time it-"

The reluctant husband-to-be interrupted his supposed future stepfather. "I've um… I've decided to end the engagement."

All noise stopped at what was just said. The clanking of dishes, the crickets, koi, everything seeming to stop. It was safe to say that, that was the loudest silence any of them had ever heard.

Not believing his ears, Soun asked. "…What?"

"I'm not marrying Akane." Ranma said more clearly than before.

"Son, I am sure your judgement is just skewed from the events that occurred today. With some proper rest, and healing, you will come around and see that you and Akane were meant for each other. It was Akane's idea to give you the cure as a wedding gift." Unaware that his words only served to worsen the chances of a second wedding attempt, Soun continued. "If that is not true love than I don't know what is."

A tick appeared on Ranma's head. "So, it was her idea to use the cure for my curse as a bribe…Sorry Mister Tendo, but I can't stay here anymore." Ranma moved to leave.

"What! Son think about what you're doing! The promise that your father and myself made to join the two schools of ' **Anything Goes Martial Arts**!' As a martial artist you must know the how dishonorable it is for us break a promise. Especially one that involves the unity of two families." Soun's attempt at using Ranma's unwavering grip on honor fell flat.

"You mean the promise Pops broke when he traded me for a fish, rice, and two pickles?" Ranma-chan question back.

"Um, well-" Was Soun's response to the question. He knew full well that is longtime best friend had indeed broken their promise all those years ago. He only let it slide because Genma still sees their promise as the only one that matters.

"Or when he made the deal with Mr. Kuonji when I was six, and got me a third fiancée?" Ranma-chan continued.

"Ah—" When Soun heard about the girl, it did irk him again.

"How about when he tried to sell me off to the Kunos? **Both of them**." The boy-turned-girl was still steamed about that one.

Not believing he heard Ranma-chan right Soun asked "…He did wha-" But he was cut off again.

"One more thing that's been buggin me. When did you and Pop get the authority to break up the schools in the first place?" Ranma folded her arms underneath her breasts.

It was at this point that Happosai finally started paying active attention to the conversation instead Ranma-chan's bust.

"When Genma and I sealed the Master away in a cave so that he could never torment us again. Since we were his only students it would only makes sense that the school fell under our control."

"Then who's sitting there?" Ranma-chan pointed to the little old gnome sitting directly opposite of Soun.

"The Master…" Soun said without any hint of worry. Until he registered that he just refreshed the aged master's memory. Soun proceeded leap back and grovel before the Grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts.

Everyone sweatdropped at the familiar sight of cowardice.

Ranma-chan then asked. "Hey old lech? Are the schools really separated?"

Happosai took some more time to gaze at Ranma-chan's, endowments, before answering "Yes…but not by those two fools." Before returning to him meal. After a sip of saké, the old master continued. "I was beginning to wonder when anyone would notice that little detail. As long as I am alive, I dictate what happens to the schools." Shaking his mostly bald head, he finished with a shocking revelation. "This crybaby and your idiot panda of a father were never recognized as full-fledged masters of ' **Anything Goes Martial Arts'** to begin with."

This shocked Soun out of his groveling. "B-But Master! We successfully defeated you all those years ago. Clearly that is more than enough proof that Saotome and I are worthy of the title of Master."

Happosai could not help but chuckle at that. "You two did not defeat me, you idiots. You and that oafish buffoon simply trapped me while I was incapacitated. Though, the dynamite was a good touch, I'll give you that. It was hardly enough to do more than singe my clothes. Had you two actually challenged me to one-on-one combat I still would not have mattered. The maximum age for someone to be considered a Master of anything goes is 20. You two were disqualified years after I started training you." Yet another piece of previously unknown information was let loose and digested by those present.

"Why then!? Why did you train us in the first place!?" Soun, not fully believing nor comprehending what he is being told.

"You two had potential at one point, and I expected your future children to just as much, if not more," Happosai's answer. Before Soun could continue on with his questioning Happosai turned to Ranma-chan. "Now Ranma. I need to be sure of your decision to end your engagement to the Tendos. Though it is not binding in any sense. I would like to be sure of your decision for posterity's sake."

"Yes." Ranma-chan said without hesitation.

"Well then, that settles it." Happosai started to get up from the table.

"Wait! Don't my daughter's get a say? The agreement was to marry **A** Tendo. There's still Kasumi and Nabiki." Pleaded Soun as a last-ditch effort to keep his and Genma's promise alive.

"I would love to take over the engagement daddy." Came Nabiki.

"NO! Nonono!" Ranma-chan said half panicked "After everything you've pulled, no way! You just want to squeeze every last yen out of me."

"What ever do you mean Saotome? I'm sure I'd make a great wife for you." Nabiki said with while innocently batting her eyes. '

Ranma-chan fixed the infamous Karma-Houdini with a half-lidded stare and plainly said "No."

"Kasumi?" Soun looked upon his eldest and most beloving and caring daughter in desperation.

Kasumi pondered with her thoughts before kindly answering her father. "I'm sorry father, but I see Ranma as more of a little brother than a future husband. I cannot see myself marrying someone I consider a sibling."

Soun closed his eyes his eyes, held back his tears, and took a deep breath. Exhaling, Soun spoke. "I guess it has come to this." He opened his eyes towards the son-turned-daughter of his best friend. He grasped her soft, dainty hands and proposed. "Saotome Ranma, will you marry me."

Ranma-chan proceeded to knock Soun out with a left hook to the temple for even suggesting something like… **That**. The others present weren't surprised by Ranma's reaction to the idea of marrying Soun.

Happosai shook his head at pupil's idiocy. "I guess that's it then. The Saotome-Tendo engagement is as void as the day it was made. Now Ranma, I will need you to meet later. You can bring your new pet too. Oh, and Kasumi, that was a wonderful dinner, superb as always."

"Thank you, grandfather," said Kasumi giving Happosai a beaming smile. She then returned to tending to her unconscious father.

Happosai left through the backdoor and out into the rain. Though only Ranma and Ryoga noticed that the rain wasn't even touching him. It was as if there was an invisible barrier blocking out the rain. Both of the cursed boys' curiosities were peaked at the prospect of not having to worry about random splashes anymore.

Ranma-chan helped Kasumi move Soun into a more comfortable position before finishing her last meal with the Tendos'.

Nabiki not wanting her goose to leave before it laid a few more golden eggs. "You know Saotome, I will be adding the dojo to the debt you already owe us." The bob haired girl stroked the camera she stored under the table.

"The dojo wasn't my fault!" Ranma went to defend herself. "Find the idiot who thought it was a good idea to invite everyone to the wedding. I had nothin to do with." Ranma said, unknowingly pissing off the Ice Queen by indirectly calling her an idiot.

Before she allowed herself to be talked into letting more debt be piled onto her. Ranma picked up P-Chan and ran to get her stuff from the guestroom. When everything was gathered, Ranma place Ryoga snugly in between the back of her neck and the cotton sleeping bag rolled up on top of the travel packs. Before leaving, Ranma went back out to the ruined dojo to get Ryoga's stuff.

While there she picked up the remains of the Tendo matriarch's shrine and brought it back inside. She placed the shrine on the now clean table in the family room, and put it back together as best as she could from memory. Satisfied that she did the best she could Ranma turned to leave. Only to walk face first into the tight embrace of Kasumi Tendo.

"Thank you, Oto-chan." Kasumi softly said.

Unused to the feeling of being hugged and not subject to a beating immediately after. Ranma awkwardly hugged Kasumi back. When their hug ended the shorter girl looked up into Kasumi's eyes and said with pure sincerity. "I'll miss you, Kas-chan."

Ranma turned to leave in the direction that Happosai went. Hopping on top of the outer wall of the Tendo Compound the redheaded martial artist waved back at the Kasumi before leaping after the Grandmaster.

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It took the Ranma 6 hours of following Happosai's Ki trail before she and Ryoga came to a stop. It was little past midnight at the time. The rain had ceased hours before, and ground was wet and muddy.

Deep within one of the mountainous Japanese forests the duo halted before torii gate that appeared to be the only clear way forward. The thicket around the area seemed to give off a warding undertone. Had Ranma not actively been following Happosai's trail she would have completely ignored this forest in general. The mossy and uneven stone that makes up the path was pitted and hazardous. The recent rainfall did not either. A normal civilian, even a weathered Nerimite, would have trouble navigating the path without injury. Ranma, even with two travel packs, a multi-ton umbrella, and a passenger, would have no trouble. The sides of the walkway were jagged and comprised of solid unworked stone. Plants grew on, around, and in the walls. Looking at the path and the surrounding area Ranma and Ryoga could tell that this walkway was made from a natural land fissure. Most probably an earthquake that split the land a long time ago

Ranma made her way up the risky trail. At the end of she came to a stopped at a pristine and ornate outer wall of what could best be described as an embellished fortress built to function as a small palace. The walkway inside the walls were a stark contrast to outside. Neat, uniform, and exempt from damage caused by usage or weather. The plant life was well maintained with expert care. The building itself completed the image with its traditional design that matched the aesthetic. A two-story structure made up the majority of the primary building. Connected to the main house were two other even taller buildings, but from where Ranma and Ryoga were they could not tell exactly what these buildings were used for. Though they guested one of them was a dojo.

"Wow, (Bwee)." Said the martial artists.

From the entrance of the gate Ranma and Ryoga were able to see two paths that they could follow. The most obvious was to the front entrance, but the odd thing was that Happosai's Ki wasn't just trailing to entrance. His Ki was…everywhere, and was not just his Ki either. The Ki traces of other people also saturated the land, air, water, even the fires from the stone lanterns. Some of the Ki traces were old, very old, even older than old lech himself.

The two transformed boys stared wide-eyed at what was before them. Ranma moved through the gate so they could get a better look.

Pain, pain was all she and Ryoga could feel. It was as if their very bodies were being torn apart at the seams. The pain was comparable to that of being on fire, but without their pain receptors burning away. It felt as if everything down to their very souls was being ripped and torn apart without mercy. Like a never-ending series kicks to the testes.

A minute of pain past before Ryoga's body switched back into his human form before passing out. The sudden weight caused Ranma to lose her balance. As she fell backward, Ryoga's body fell to the ground. When Ryoga stopped tumbling. A soggy, translucent piglet began to leave the naked boy's chest. When it fully left his body, the panicking piglet's physique began to break apart into an indistinguishable mass. The piglet lost its watery texture first. Then its body started breaking apart next. What remained was nothing more than a fluctuating concentration of chaotic energy. The unknown energy turned a shade of red similar to Ryoga's Ki, and lowered itself back into back into the boy's chest. His broken limbs, that had been further damaged by the fall, started glowing red and started explosively snapping, cracking and popping back into place. His body was healing at a rapid pace, but before the laceration on his face started healing the energy fizzled out.

Ranma changed back into his original male form at as he fell back. Now propped up by the two travel packs beneath his back. As he was about to fall into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness to get away from the pain. A large wavering glob of multicolored energy, as big Happosai's battle aura, lifted from his body. The various chaotic, and obviously conflicting, energies became more erratic and panicked.

Ranma could clearly see everything in front of him. What could best be described as magical energy. Magics of various colors from bright, golden yellow, various shades of reds and greens, etc. Every color inspired some form of emotion in Ranma, but none of them were objectively positive.

This was the residual magics from every encounter Ranma's experienced since Jusenkyo to the battle at Phoenix Mountain. It was being unraveled and destroyed before his very eyes.

The sporadic mass continued to shrink in size. It was when the bunches of random chaotic magics shrunk to about the size of a human body that the energies began to change. Almost as one, the energies started mix. The smaller magical energies started to fuse with one of the larger bodies of mana. When all of smaller and weaker magics finished their merge. They managed to create a replica body of Ranma's female form. Once the body was a made the rest of the energies that appeared to either be too chaotic and/or powerful began to move. They started to form Mana-chan's clothes.

From head-to-toe.

Mana-chan was dressed and bejeweled with the remaining magics. Her long hair was held in a high ponytail with a gold holder. A short white qipao formed on her body. Opened breasted and slits in the dress that when up to her hips. It was safe to say that her dress was more risqué than a certain purple haired ramen delivery girl. Gold bracers and greaves formed on her wrists and ankles to match the ponytail holder in her hair. White tai chi shoes formed on her feet. They were the in the female style. Similar to Mary Jane buckle shoes.

The last bit magical energy was a Ying symbol with the Yang dot. The Ying when into Mana-chan's head. After the mana completely sunk into her head the previously unmoving girl came life.

Ranma did not like what he saw.

Phantasmal tears streaked down her face as the realization of her imminent demise grew closer. All she could do was cry out terror when the watery quality of her body completely evaporated.

Weakened from the painful sensation caused by crossing the gate, Ranma struggled to move. He wanted to help her. It was not only his duty as a martial artist to save her. He could not bear to see someone suffering.

The girl was hovering, huddled in the fetal position, when the texture of her body changed from liquid to dry. It was at that moment when her body itself began to be torn away. This caused her to spasm and thrash around into untold amounts of suffering.

When a decent portion of her body had faded away Ranma grasped her wrist. This action halted everything that was happing to her. Her body ceased to fade, the pain was now gone, and the terror she felt was beaten down by Ranma's desire to keep her from harm. He began to pull his female half down from her hovering position in the air.

The girl's attitude changed from that of fear to one of hope. When Ranma finished pulling his girl half out of the air he subconsciously rapped his arms around her in a protective manner. Too tired to even open his eyes anymore, Ranma wearyingly told his female half one thing before passing out. "You're safe now~."

The spectral girl stared down at face of the young man before her. Memories imprinted in all of the magics and curses that made up her body, flooded through her mind like sonic slideshow. The one who tried, tirelessly to get rid of her at every chance he got. Yet, he reached out to her. The same young man who regarded her as nothing more than a burden. Yet, he pulled her back. He who damned her very existence for all the pain and humiliation he faced because she, and what made her up, existed. Yet, he consoled her when she was in pain.

As the memories stopped, she thought about what Ranma did, and why he did. She slowly began to sink back into his body. Before completely melding back into her host. The spectral girl grasped the sides of his face and delivered a wholehearted kiss. Breaking away from the lip-lock she whispered, "Thank you, my love," before completely sinking back into her host's body.

The amalgam of various residual magics that had been stripped from Ranma's body began to solidify into a spherical orb. The energy turned a golden edged blue ball and washed over Ranma like a wave. All the physical scars that Ranma suffered from, from the past 15 years healed away.

Two unconscious young men now laid on the ground. One of them naked from changing back into a human. The other was arguably better off by having something soft to lay on, but his back was going kill him when woke up.

Once all the movement ceased a single figure existed through the main entrance of the palace. Happosai, taking a long pull from his kiseru pipe, smirked at the two boys on the ground.

"Congrats boys, you passed entry test. You can now move about the lands whenever you want." The aged master turned and walk back into the palace. _'Too bad Ranma's curse is gone. I'll miss that little bombshell.'_ the old man thought to himself before closing the door.

It would be 10 hours before the two boys woke up…

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400 hundred miles away in Nerima stood a small restaurant. The Cat Café, it was a small two-story building with a general rectangular design shape. Two alleyways on either side of the building kept it from coming in contact with the other two shops to either side it. The decoration is deeply inspired by Chinese art patterns. There are multiple types of advertising signs and even a display for their foods in front.

From the outside a passerby would not think that anyone inside was awake, and they would normally be right. It was past 12 a.m. But, they would be wrong tonight.

Koron, also known improperly as Cologne, matriarch of the Joketsuzoku tribe in the Byankala Mountains, a branch of the Kunlun Mountain Range, located in Eastern China. She is a highly skilled and dangerous martial artist with over 300 hundred years of experience. Though she lacks the power to throw around Ki-blasts willy-nilly. Her wide knowledge of martial arts techniques more than makes up for her drawback. During her time in Nerima, Cologne has tried and failed multiple times to get Ranma Saotome to come back to her village with her great-granddaughter, Shanpū. She has the appearance of a ghoulish woman due to being nearly as old as Happosai. Her hair, held back by a red headband, had turned white with age. She wore a large green shirt with a red hem and heaven symbol on it. Due to Cologne's size her shirt would drag on the ground, but she pogoes around on a large gnarled staff.

After Ranma's fight against the Dragon Prince of the Musk, Herb. Cologne has halted her attempts to assist in her great-granddaughter's pursuit. Until now.

Balancing on her staff before her great-granddaughter. Cologne wanted to make sure that Shampoo understood her plan.

(Now child, do you understand what we must do to get your husband to come back with us?) Cologne askes her normally bubbly heir.

(Yes Elder,) Answered the oddly named Amazonian. Bluish-purple hair reached down to her waist, two hair buns sat atop her head and two strands hanging from either side her head. Though it late at night. The warrior was alert and ready to complete her task. Her chocolate brown eyes set with a stern no-nonsense look. A face fit more for a high school sweetheart than a hardened warrior. Most people would never suspect the things she has done, has tried to do, or is planning to do. Even the light purple, thigh-length, night gown decorated with little kittens furthered the contrast.

(By tomorrow. I will send Ranma a letter of apology, and a promise to teach him some new martial arts technique. When he arrives. We will ambush him, and hit him with these imprinting eggs.) The purple haired beauty pointed to the box of eggs in the table. (I will then hatch him and Ranma will be mine.) Shampoo finishes, swooning at the prospects of having such a strong husband 'willing' be with her.

Cologne smiled at her great-granddaughter's giddiness, but her good mood was short lived.

(I'm sorry, elder, but I cannot let you go through with this plan. What you are planning to do is enslave Saotome. Though I detest that Casanova for playing with the hearts of so many women. That wedding early today is more than enough proof that he has chosen a fiancée.) These words came from a young man. He would have been considered handsome, but the features of his face were over shadowed by his comically large coke-bottle glasses. His long, straight, black hair fell down to waist, unhindered. He was dressed in a white Chinese pao robe with long voluminous sleeves. The robe was decorated with five diamonds and a red sash. He also wore nondescript dark blue ku style trousers and standard black martial arts slippers.

Exasperated by the boys' irritating words, annoying presence, and the fact it was past mid-night.

 ***Whack!***

Cologne struck the young man over the head with her pogo staff, hard. "Mūsu, this is no time for bad jokes. Ranma is too important to the tribe for us to just let him go."

Shampoo sat at the table with a peeved expression on her face. "Stupid Mousse!"

"Shanpū, I told you to speak in our native tongue until our meet is over." Cologne reminded Shampoo

Bowing her head respectfully, Shampoo replied. "Yes Great-Grandmother."

Mūsu was still treating the smarted part on his head. ' _Damn that old mummy!'_

"Now Mousse, what tell us what you saw while you kept watch at the Tendos'." Cologne was set on not wasting anymore time. She knew that Ranma was a heavy sleeper. If they struck while he was unable to defend himself eff~

"He left the Tendo household with Ryoga after finishing dinner. I attempted to pursue, but I lost them when a passing car splashed me with water…"

Cologne really wanted to be mad at Mousse for not being able to keep track of Ranma, but she knew that the rain would be a detriment from the beginning. She would have sent Shampoo had her great-granddaughter not had such an inconvenient jusenkyo curse.

"Did you at least see which direction they went in, Mūsu? The rain will slow down our ability to track him."

Mousse was conflicted. Though he despises Ranma for bewitching the woman of his dreams. He knew that what they were about to do was disgustingly dishonorable. Even more so than his use of the Lens of Invincibility; which nearly cost him any favor Shampoo had with him.

But, he knew that going against Cologne in something like was dangerous, if not deadly. The very minimum punishment he could hope for was another whack on the head.

Based on his past experience in similar situations. The male amazon chose to maintain everyone's honor. He was raised that honor was greatly valued as a core aspect of their tribe. Enslaving Ranma instead of getting him to willing coming back with them would be considered a shameful act.

"No, I cannot allow your plan to come to fruition." Noticing that the elder was calmly listening to his words. Mousse continued. "I believe that procuring Ranma in this way would go against our honor as Joketsuzoku martial artists." Mousse lifted his sleeved arm in the direction of the imprinting eggs, and he launched a barrage of random throwing darts, knives, axes and javelins towards the box of eggs. Cologne tried to stop as many weapons as she could before they completely destroyed all of the magical eggs. She failed.

The magical eggs that would have allowed them to not only capture Ranma, but any eligible male martial artist that had a decent amount of skill. They were destroyed.

Cologne, enraged by Mousse's actions, launched at the aforementioned boy.

 **WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!**

Cologne, elder of the Amazon tribe, who helped to guide her people for over 200 hundred years. The woman who raised multiple generations of warriors and saw many of those same warriors butchered in battles long past. She saw many of her children and grandchildren fall in these wars against the other warrior tribes throughout the rest of the Kunlun Mountain range. It was her purpose, her desired to make sure that the tribe was strong. Strong so that her people would never suffer such great loses of life again. So, she continued to mercilessly beat Mousse with her staff for daring to destroy her dream.

"You duck brained idiot! Capturing Ranma is not a matter of honor! Those eggs would have guaranteed the prosperity and unassailability of our tribe for thousands of years!"

After a brief pause Cologne ceased her relentless attack. "Mousse, for your actions tonight, you are no longer to be considered of the Joketsuzoku. From this day forward you, Mūsu, will not only be banished from the Joketsuzoku tribe. Once we return back to the village. Your banishment will be finalized, and any warrior of Joketsuzoku will be free to hunt you and your family down." Cologne turned back to look upon a horrified Shampoo. "Shanpū, I want you to administer the Mark of Treasonous Lineage." Cologne looks back down at the visually impaired pest. "When you are done. Get him away from here. I have tolerated his presence for too long."

Shampoo looked down at her childhood friend. Battered, bruised, and bloodied from the vicious beating, Shampoo could see that Mousse was thrashed just enough to not impede his ability to walk. She steeled herself for what she was about to do. Squashing away any positive feeling she had for the visibly challenged fighter.

Through pained breathing and trickling blood, Mousse spoke to the woman he loved. "P-please, don't do this to my faawCK!"

Shampoo cut off Mousse's words by gripping his neck. She then dislocated his jaw with a few heavy hooks to keep him from talking too much. The Amazonian was not going to let something as petty as a caring friend/adamant admirer keep her from Ranma. Shampoo then tore his shirt off to reveal his heavily bruised torso. Should heal naturally in a few weeks…she thought.

Mousse could not believe what was happening. He tried to maintain their honor as Joketsuzoku warriors, but not only was he being punished for it. His family was going to suffer too.

This was not something as simple as the **Kiss of Marriage** or **The Kiss of Death.** **The Mark of the Treasonous Lineage** was a curse that would affect every living person in the victim's family. Until those afflicted with this curse die. They would be a living magnet of mistreatment, abuse, and persecution. The longer they stayed in one place the worse it got. Every person from Mousse's family would be forced into exile. From everywhere.

Shampoo began to administer the mark through Mousse's choked gurgles. Shampoo imbued her hands with Ki, and began to press a series of pressure points on Mousse's chest. The intricate shiatsu technique seemed to dance around and cross his heart. Shampoo finished the shiatsu portion of the technique. She then preformed the final step. A timed Ki infused pal strike to Mousse's heart. Timed perfectly so as to not accidentally kill him.

" **叛逆血** **统的标志** **!" (Mark of the Treasonous Lineage!)**

Once Shampoo spoke those words Mousse's heart began to heat up and glow red. Other places across his body simultaneously followed suit. This was obviously causing great amounts of pain, but Mousse's cries were ignored. When glow finally faded. Those present could see blood red chains and shackles branded into Mousse's Arms, neck and most likely legs as well. The chains themselves resembles those used for criminals. The chains wrapped around Mousse's forearms and lower legs. On his heart, the Chinese symbols for exile.

Shampoo then knocked Mousse out cold with a strike to the temple. Making sure he was unconscious.

"You did well, Shanpū." Cologne complement her dead-eyed great-granddaughter. "You may get cleaned up. I know that must have been hard on you, but it had to be done. We cannot tolerate those who would dare to go against the tribe's best interest." Cologne knew that her words were barely reaching her great-granddaughter. "When you finish getting cleaned up you may rest. I will move Mūsu. It was not right of me to ask you to do anymore than you thank this."

"Thank you, Elder." Shampoo bowed her head before head upstairs.

Cologne went to the kitchen to get a glass of cold water. She figured that it would be much less conspicuous for someone to carry a duck around than a human. Even if was late at night. They were in Nerima.

Cologne splashed the branded boy with the glass of water. Mousse turned from a young man into a white feathered duck. Wordlessly, Cologne picked up Mousse and headed out the back door of the Café. Happy that the rain had stopped earlier, Cologne pogoed her way out of Nerima at high speeds. Though she ordered Mousse to be cursed. She knew that her hatred would grow for the duck-boy the longer she remained in his presence. Cologne did not want to kill him. What is the point of punishing someone if they're just going to die immediately…

Stopping along a muddy byway far north of Tokyo. Cologne unceremoniously dropped Mousse on the ground.

"I know you cannot hear me Mūsu, but out of respect for your fighting ability. I will simply have your family exiled. You, on the other hand, will be hunted relentlessly."

Cologne pogoed her way back to the Cat Café. She had much planning to do involving the runaway groom.


	2. Kinshi Mori

Sorry it took so long to write chapter 2. In all honesty, I had no intentions of making any chapters this long. I may start writing smaller chapters to get them out faster, plus they're easier to edit. Unlikely to happen, but I'll try doing so after chapter 3.

"Talking"

' _Thinking/_ quoting _'_

 **Emphasis/** **Techniques**

Foreign Languages (This will always be done to languages foreign to the current setting)

'Song/book titles/foods'

"Happosai's handwriting" (I am so sorry)

Ranma ½ characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Odyssey of the Four Artists

It was a new day, the rain had already dried from yesterdays' shower, and the sounds of the surrounding forest were in full swing. The birds sang their songs freely while the wind rustled the leaves. With not a cloud in sight, the overbearing heat of the sun shined down. Warmth from the sun blanketed the ground like a bed covering. It was tranquil.

This serenity would not last as one of two teens began to awaken from the peaceful slumber that kept him from wreaking havoc.

The first of the two to regain some of his consciousness was young man with large canines, Ryoga Hibiki. His dark, hunter green, hair was mussed and matted from sleeping on the stone ground. He sat up and began to stretch out the kinks in his back, neck, and limbs. Subconsciously, he moved his arms to get the sleep out his eyes. While using his left arm to clear away the gound in his eyes, the fanged boy finally noticed what was off about his action.

He was in his human form. While he does prefer this body as opposed to his other one, Dr. Tofu told him that he needed to stay in his cursed form to heal properly. That was another thing he noticed. He could move his arm without feeling any pain. Looking down at his left arm, the young man saw that even the heavy bruises were gone.

' _What the?'_ The bandana clad boy thought.

He remembered that the good doctor advised him to stay in his cursed form for week. This was so his arm and leg would heal properly. Thinking of his leg. He looked down check to see if his leg was also healed. It was in perfect condition.

In doing so, the fanged boy finally noticed that he was outside, and nude. Supremely embarrassed and red in the face about his public indecency. He looked around the area for anything to cover himself. To him the surrounding courtyard seemed hazily familiar, as if something happened here recently. Unable to actually remember anything, he brushed it off, figuring that he had more important things to worry about.

It was not long until Ryoga spotted his travel pack laying under a ponytailed teen about his own age. The fanged boy knew exactly who this was. Ranma Saotome, the young man who practically saved his life at the Tendos' yesterday.

He would be lying if he said that the idea of flinging Ranma off of his stuff did not dance across his mind. But the fanged boy knew he was in debt to him for what he did the other day. It would not sit right with his conscience to just fling him around. No matter how satisfying it would be.

Ryoga tried, in his honest opinion, to move Ranma as gently as he could. The lack of control he has over his great strength triggered Ranma's **Sleep Fu**. The technique the ponytailed boy developed to protect himself from those who would assault him while he rested. Using a combination of instincts and reflexes, this technique can discern friend from foe based on the aura they gave off. Though it seems that his father, Genma Saotome, and ex-fiancée, Akane Tendo, have found ways around the technique. Most people have no clue how to get around it unscathed.

Ranma's body sensed the fanged boy's desire to harm him, so it retaliated with a warning. A quick jab was launch at the fanged boy's face.

It was a dull punch, for someone as strong Ranma. Though the jab was powerful enough to knock most nonmartial artist out cold. The 'potential attacker' the sleeping boy hit was far from a nonmartial artist. And the 'imminent attacker' was now ticked.

Seeing the sudden attack as a rejection of his generosity. The bandanaed boy gave in to his desire to fling his rival off his stuff.

Gripping the knapsack on the bottom of the pile. The well-muscle young man flung the sleeping boy off his stuff. Ranma's arms slipped free from the other boy's pack and he was sent flying.

Ranma, felt the familiar sensation of sudden momentum. Having trained in, the now defunct, **Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts** **.** His daily training in midair combat, along with oddly catlike agility, would have guaranteed a graceful landing. If he had been fully awake.

Ranma's **Sleep Fu** was amazing for self-defense against people who would try and attack him in his sleep, but it was terrible for anything delicate, like landed. His body, moving on instinct, tried to position itself to land feet first in a crouch. In a plain, flat area it would have worked, but his body could not detect the incoming wall fast enough. The aerial prodigy struck the barrier with a dull **thumping** sound.

A nonreinforced wall would normally crumble under such a hard impact. The force was equivalent to that of a small car accident, but beautifully constructed barrier did not even sport crack.

Dazed, but awake, Ranma unsteadily stood up from his position on the ground. Believing his father simple threw him out of Tendo's guest room window, he fell into his normal morning routine. Positioning himself to spar with his father, he spoke. "Damnit pop! When I'm done with ya, you'll…huh?" He was taken aback. He expected it to be his father who threw him, as per usual.

Looking around, the raven-haired boy's memories from the previous night began come back. In his mind's eye, he began to run through the events from the previous day.

As Ranma was remembering coming to a stop at the weird forest. His recollections were halted by the boy who threw him.

While adjusting his shirt, Ryoga ask. "Hey Ranma. What is this place?" The perpetually lost boy asked, now fully dressed. He wore a baggy, pale yellow, tunic that showed signs of sun bleaching. The loose cuffs were rolled up so as to keep from getting in the way of his hands. A black sash was tied around his waist to act as a belt. His midnight blue, drawstring, pants were fastened at the hems with yellow legs ties, similar to that of a ballerina, and he wore yellow socks with his black kung fu slippers.

Ranma was not sure what here was exactly. He only knew it was a few hundred miles North of Tokyo. "Dunno know. But the old freak did lead us here for some reason." He said with a shrug.

The ponytailed boy then fully noticed his non-piglet companion. "Ryoga, aren't you supposed to be a pig for a week or somethin? And how'd you heal so fast?"

The young Hibiki could only shrug in response. He had no idea how he healed, and was just as much in the dark as Ranma was about this.

Ranma grabbed his pack and walked towards Ryoga. "Glad see you're healed anyway." Pausing, he took a closer look at Ryoga's face. "Mostly…"

When Ranma said 'mostly,' Ryoga became visibly puzzled about what that meant. He never cared too much about his looks, but even he had some pride in his facial features.

"What's wrong with my face?"

Already walking towards the main entrance of the palace, Ranma gave a blasé response. "Hm? Oh, don't to worry about…I hear they add character."

Ryoga did not know how to feel about that. He would have kept pressing the issue further, but Ranma had already begun to knock the palace door. Ryoga figured if he was not making fun of him for it, it could not be too bad.

They stood there waiting for someone to answer the door. Nobody came. Ranma stretched his senses to feel if anyone was nearby, but he could not sense anything beyond the large wooden door.

"Maybe nobody's here?" Questioned Ryoga. Though the lost boy himself did not believe the entire palace was empty. It was too big, and too well maintained, to be completely void of residence. He had been to enough palaces and castles in his globetrotting travels to know that.

While the well-traveled Hibiki was looking around for someone with a bright red coat and a tall fur hat. Ranma simply tested the door and found it was unlocked. As he was about to enter the palace, Ryoga halted him. "You can't just barge into a palace!"

"Don't you remember? The old lech said that he needed to see me." Ranma paused, and recalled the last bit of what Happosai said. "And, that I could bring my new pet." The raven-haired boy added some mirth onto that last part. Knowing how Ryoga would react to such a tongue-in-cheek comment. Ranma ran inside to try and avoid the piglet cursed boy's wrath.

"Why you!" Ryoga gave chase. He was not going to let that bastard get away with insulting him like that.

After a few seconds of running, Ryoga's anger was steadily being eaten away by the breathtaking sight before him. This did not deter the lost boy's desire to beat Ranma into pulp, but what they thought was a palace, was actually a secondary gate. The fanged fighter was in awe.

Passing through the large gate house, the boys were met with a massive decent of gradually expanding stairs. From the stairway, the path led to a Neo-Edo style city.

From where they were, Ranma and Ryoga could see both an eastern and a western gate that mirrored the one Ranma and Ryoga ran through. From each of these gates was a main street that went through the center of the small city. From these roads, smaller pathways, streets and alleys branched off to connect the rest of the buildings. The top of the stairway was high enough above the city that anyone standing there would have been able to see across the entirety city.

Where the northern gate would have come from, a massive castle complex stood. Moated off from the rest of the city, the modernized castle complex appeared to also act as the cities upper class district. The castle itself was designed as a hirayamajiro, hilltop castle. The main keep was well over 20 meters taller than its 5 subsidiary keeps. A total of 75 meters tall, excluding lower walls that acted as a both a foundations and basements.

In the city square, where all the main roads led to, was a slightly raised Olympic sized field of raked, grey sands, held in place by finely worked stone. Though it was far from ugly, the grey field was less than stellar to look at compared to rest of the city. Even the poorer looking areas had a sort of humble charm. The oddest part about the city square was that the buildings were designed to give a good view of the sand field.

Ranma, amazed at what he was seeing, paused at the top of the stairway. Just as he was about to verbalize his amazement. Ryoga slammed into him at full speed. Resulting in the duo flying forward, down the 800-step stairway. With a combination of luck and skill, the tumbling martial artists managed to keep their travel packs in between the steps and their bodies. After the first few hundred steps Ranma and Ryoga were stuck a dizzyingly fast spin that was increasing in speed.

Nearing the bottom of the steps, Ryoga, in frustration, tried to halt their spin by suddenly extending his limbs, but his attempt only caused them to go airborne. With their speed and Ryoga's strength they were in for a nice flight.

Ranma, now in familiar territory, and fully awake this time, tried to alter his trajectory for a smooth landing. His plans were soon smashed by Ryoga's endeavor to right his only flight. Their combined movements countered each other and only served to grant them a rough landing in a four wheeled wagon. The force of their landing broke the antique transportation from its locking braces.

Two dazed martial artists and an old wagon were now speedily flying down main street, heading straight for the vacant city square.

Upon crashing into the lip of the raised platform. The wagon flipped forward, throwing the two passengers forward into the grey sands.

The martial artists were met with a very unceremonious landing, but it was Ranma who ended up crushed under both of their travel packs. Effortlessly, he threw the heavy weights off of himself. Fully awaken, if not a little dizzy, Ranma wanted to give Ryoga a piece of valuable advice.

"Watch where you're going next time, moron!" The raven-haired boy insulted. Knowing full well that he was antagonizing Ryoga into a fight. Buy hey, Ranma needed his morning workout from somewhere, and there was a serious lacking of panda shaped punching bags nearby.

Ryoga stood up, taking his weighted umbrella from his travel pack. He knew what Ranma was trying to do. Make him mad, piss him off, humiliate him, etc. All so he would get mad and attack.

Ironically, the more he thought about the blatant manipulation, the angrier he got. He charged, yelling his trusted call to arms. "Ranma! Prepare to die!"

Just as Ryoga took his first step. The grey sandy material began to move and change. The two material artists had little trouble keeping their balance, but the sensation was very odd to them. It was akin to standing on solid waves.

Gradually, the ground began to change colors and texture. The grey material began to shape into grassy hills. Trees began to form from the ground and sparsely dotted the new landscape. Once the plants were molding into existence. Scorched craters began to appear as if hit by a massive artillery strike recently struck. Some of the larger crater clusters began to flood with water. Trenches and bunkers started to manifest at the opposite ends of the field. Water then started to flood some of the lower and more damaged structures.

When the ground stopped moving, Ranma and Ryoga found themselves at the two opposing ends of a Great War style battlefield. Though they were confused. Neither were put off from the prospect of having their very own battlefield to fight in.

Both fighters looked around for any people to tell them off, or get them to stop, but there was nobody. The city was silent.

Ryoga, still positioned to launch forward, shrugged, gave a tigerish grin and launched across the field. His powerful strides tore up the soil. "Hehe," He chuckled. _'A battlefield? fitting.'_

Not wanting his rival to gain too much ground, Ranma decide to meet Ryoga half way. Using his superior speed, he would easily make it to the center first. _'I don't this is going to be a simple spar…"_

Ryoga saw that Ranma took up a defensive stance at the center of the field. Deciding not to let a still target slip through his fingers, he stuffed his umbrella into the sash on his waist. The fanged martial artist jumped. While forcing Ki into his legs, Ryoga launched himself over 100ft into the air. He grabbed handfuls of bandanas from his head along the way up. While spinning the cloth, he purposefully drove too much Ki into them. The once limp fabric was made rigid, sharp, began to glowed an unstable shade of red.

Recalling what he saw at Mount Phoenix, Ryoga threw the cloth bandanas at Ranma's general area. "I'm not going easy on you Ranma! I know what you're capable of! **Bakuhatsu shuriken issei shageki!" (Exploding Shuriken Fusillade!)** _'You're not the only one who can come up with new tricks!'_

Ryoga then waited to see where his archrival would dodge to. He knew that Ranma would do his best to avoid that attack. It was just a matter of where will avoid to.

When Ranma began to moved out of the way. The fanged fighter took his umbrella into his hands. Pushing more Ki into his parasol, he aimed for the closest breaking point to rival's new position.

Ranma saw the glowing barrage of tiger striped bandanas close in on him. _'How many bandanas does he have!?'_ He moved from ground zero, but he was not unscathed.

Individually the enhanced bandanas were sharp enough to cut through poor quality steel, and their new explosive quality could shatter a foot-wide slab of concrete. The ponytailed boy was scratched by three of them. Though the total damage was minor. Ranma was knocked sliding on his side.

Sensing that something dangerous was coming. The agile fighter used the momentum from his slide to spring away. Whatever Ranma was sensing could ruin his chance at winning. If it did not take him out of the fight right away.

Readying a **Mōko Takabisha, (Fierce Tiger Domineering)** **,** Ranma held onto it until the timing was just right.

Descending from his 10-story jump, Ryoga finally came up with a decent name for his newest attack. He smirked, before yelling, " **AKA SUISEI FUNKA!" (Red Comet Eruption)**

When Ryoga made his impact. The force of his landing alone was enough to rupture the land 45 feet in every direction from ground zero. Originating from the epicenter, the faults in the ground began to alight with red energy. Like a giant version of the **Bakusai Tenketsu (Breaking Point),** the ground lifted up and exploded outward. Dirt and sharp stones were flung in all directions at dangerously high speeds. Ryoga himself took a noticeable amount of damage from his new, imperfected, technique.

Not even the Bakusai Tenketsutraining was not enough to harden his body to the point where he can withstand all of the projectiles of his new technique. Though the damage was only a few scrapes and gashes. His body was hard enough to withstand most things short of a tanks' cannon. That new attack of his was more powerful than he expected.

Ryoga's sixth sense kicked in telling him that he was in danger. Following his senses, honed from his life as a wanderer, the lost boy turned to his right. "There you URF!" The Ki blast he sensed came from the left...

Again, Ranma was just within range of Ryoga's newest attack, but he was prepared. His **Mōko Takabisha** was originally developed because of his rival's **Shishi Hōkōdan (Lion Roaring Bullet)** technique **.** This Ki blast was created by civil engineers to escape cave-ins. That means the **Mōko Takabisha** still maintains its earth clearing capabilities.

Ranma had jumped into the air to get a better angle at where he saw Ryoga land and fired his technique. It sailed on through the dirt cloud and shrapnel without trouble, but the shockwave from Ryoga's attack still knocked him back a bit.

The major weakness of the **Mōko Takabisha** is the fact that it is made of 'lighter' Ki, Confidence, assurance, and/or ego. The **Shishi Hōkōdan** is made from 'heavier' Ki, anger, passion, and/or depression. Simply put, the **Shishi Hōkōdan** has more weight behind its punch.

The shockwave pushed Ranma past his initial landing point. He turned his head to see where he would land. He was not overjoyed with what awaited him. A flooded crater.

"Not good not good not good!" The gender cursed martial artist verbally panicked. Using his mastery of aerial maneuvers. Ranma tried to adjust his landing. He knew it was useless. His Jusenkyo curse turned him into a water magnet. No matter how much he has tried to. He is unable to avoid getting splashed with water, but Saotome's were nothing if not persistent.

Ranma did not want to turn into a girl right now. His female form was faster and even more agile, yes, but he has noticed that Ryoga has started holding back against him when he is a girl.

Ranma was so focused on avoiding the crater that he was completely blindsided by a flying umbrella.

The parasol struck him in the stomach, carried him over the crater, out of no-man's land, and into an up-hill sloped, communication trench. The trench that connected the frontline and support trenches.

Painfully, Ranma thought, _'Small mercies I guess...ow.'_ Relieved that his reach, strength, and speed were unhindered. Though he would be the first to say that he could live without the pain in his gut.

Ranma looked around his general area. He took up Ryoga's multi-ton umbrella with ease and tested its balance. "Hmm?" _'Similar to a jian in balance.'_ He thought. Ranma could not help but smirk. "Perfect."

During the 15 years Ranma trained with his father. He was taught the basics of most traditionally esoteric ranged and melee weapons from East Asia. This was so he knew how to defend himself against them and similar weapons. He was no master by any means, but the knowledge has been more than useful. Especially in the time he stayed in Nerima.

Ranma's plan was to use the **Taijijian 32 Sword Forms** mixed with **Chángquán (Long Fist)** jian and umbrella techniques. He reevaluated his plan when he remembered that Ryoga has been using this parasol as a weapon for much longer than him. The ponytailed fighter rationalized that Ryoga would most likely know at least **Chángquán**. He was going to have to mix and match a few styles to make this work out in his favor.

Angered by his self-misdirection earlier, Ryoga followed the path of his throw. Once he reached were his rival landed. He saw Ranma was wielding his umbrella like a sword. The fanged fighter smiled at the declaration of a sword fight.

Ryoga never saw Ranma wield a blade with any more skill than a novice. Confident that his own skill with a sword was superior to his rivals'. Ryoga undid his sash and infused it with Ki. Turning his 100in sash into a razor-sharp blade. Lightly, he dropped into the trench and stalked towards his prey.

Baring his fangs with a questioning smile. "Heh, you're making this way too easy."

Aiming to make Ryoga mad, Ranma replied. "Confidence doesn't look good on you Ryoga. 'Sides, you're just my fat panda for today." He finished off with a superior smirk.

"How dare you compare me to a fat panda!" Ryoga charged attempting to bulldoze Ranma's defenses and chop him into pieces.

Their sword duel in the Trenches of Saotome began.

Using his greater reach. The fanged fighter appeared to have the upper hand in the conflict with Ranma being drive back further into the trenches. The greater reach of Ryoga's sash was substantially more than that of his umbrella. He used that fact to great effect, or so he thought.

Ranma saw it better to fight defensively until he saw the best opportunity to strike back. Whenever, or if it ever comes.

The seemingly lopsided altercation left the wooden floors damaged. Sheet metal walls were shredded to scrap. Sand bags were cut and punctured causing them to leak sand. This damage was mirrored throughout the entirety of the support section of the WW1 style trenches.

The tight structure of the trenches reduced the effectiveness of Ryoga's swings. The only attacks that Ranma had to work hard to avoid taking damage from were overhead slashes.

Ranma dodged, weaved, parried, and deflected Ryoga's attacks with moderate ease, yet he was still being pushed back. Until an opportunity had finally presented itself.

Their fight carried them to the entrance of an underground HQ Dugout. From a slight glance. Ranma was able to see that the structure was about 3m deep. More than enough to forced Ryoga off his feet.

Ryoga was getting frustrated with not being able to hit his target. His movements became more and more projected as the duel went on, and Ranma used this to his advantage. When Ryoga over extended with a particularly powerful slash. The speedy martial artist closed the distance and delivered a strong plunge to his rival's stomach using the blunt tip of the umbrella.

Knowing full well that, that attack was not enough to hurt Ryoga. Ranma followed through and pushed him down into the dugout.

Ryoga was discombobulated from the sudden attack and fall. So much so that the Ki in his sash was harmlessly released.

It was Ranma's turn to go on the offensive.

Using a unique combination of sword, umbrella, and kicking techniques. Ranma finally had the upper hand in this fight.

The bruises were stacking up, and his breath was becoming heavier. Ryoga knew that if he did nothing he would lose. He could not think of a way to turn the tide of this fight. So, he decided to just act.

Ryoga let Ranma hit him with his umbrella one last time. Quickly, he wrapped his arms around it. Using his greater strength, the Hibiki boy yanked his parasol out of Ranma's hands. The overwhelming force of the pull messed with the agile fighter's balance.

Seeing the opening for an attack. Ryoga grabbing and lifted Ranma up by his face. He yelled the name of his attack. " **Shishi Hōkōdan!"** The powerful Ki blast forced Ranma back and up. Imbedding him deep into the dugout wall.

Ryoga did not want to let his momentum go to waist. "Take this!" He fired a **second Shishi Hōkōdan**. The second Ki blast pushed Ranma up through the earth and back out into the open

Ranma, now flying through the air again, ended up crashing against a concrete, pillbox style, MG nest.

"Fuuuck…" He eloquently articulated through the pain. Ranma knew he needed to turn things back in his favor. That last hit to the body was nothing to sneeze at. Ryoga had just powered through his attack, and that had him concerned. _'Damn it, how tough is his body?'_

"So, I can't get close to him. I don't got enough **Mōko Takabishas** in me to finish this. And, there's not enough hot Ki here for **a** **Hiryū Shōten Ha (** **Flying Dragon Ascension Blast** **)**." He had to improvise some way to even the playing field.

Sudden inspiration struck. Ranma grabbed an armful of small pebbles and stones from the ground, and he strained himself to get up so he could make his way inside the stone pillbox. He positioned himself at the windows and waited for Ryoga to show himself.

Ryoga was very satisfied with that last attack. Now that Ranma was not within sight of him. The bandana clad boy kneeled down. Though it was only ten seconds, Ranma managed to land a few thousand strikes of his body. He gripped his sides and felt the bruises. This caused him to let out a hiss of pain. "I really need to stop underestimating that bastard." He said himself while retrieving his stuff. Once set, he left the dugout.

Looking around, Ryoga was unable to find his rival. Angered at the thought that Ranma ran away he yelled. "Damnit Ranma! Where are you hiding!?"

 ***boink***

A little peddle bounced off his ear.

The lost boy turned in the direction of were the pebble came from. He saw Ranma inside a small, windowed, concrete box about 20m away. "There you are!"

"Hey Ryoga!" Ranma called "Catch!"

"Huh?" Replied Ryoga.

Two more pebbles flew from the pillbox, and with great precision too. Both of them went up Ryoga's nostrils.

The sensation of the pebbles being thrown into his nose caused Ryoga to jerk around and dance like a lunatic. When he finally got the pebbles out. The fanged fighter was met with the guffaws of his archrival.

Ranma could not help but laugh at the ridiculous dance Ryoga was doing. "Bwahaha! You look like an idiot! Bwahaha!" Ranma could not help but think, _'where's Nabs with that camera when you need her?'_

By the time Ranma regained his composure. Ryoga, red in the face, was barrel on his position in mad dash. The ponytailed boy was having second thoughts about his ingenious plan. Just to get rid them, the Ranma threw the rest of the pebbles, and hunkered down.

Ryoga was closing in on Ranma's position at high speeds. He was not going to let someone humiliate him like that, and get away with it. Once he was within reach of the pillbox, he was too angry to actual say the name of his attack. He roared and threw a Ki infused finger forward. Using **Bakusai Tenketsu** , the concrete bunker exploded into shrapnel. Sharpened pieces of concrete flew in every direction. The lost boy himself, was unfazed due to the training required to use the technique, unlike the **Aka Suisei Funka.** But, Ryoga forgot one thing.

Ranma had already developed a defensive counter. He simply added one more ingenious step to make it an offensive counter. Throwing the shrapnel back.

Concrete shards came zipping out of the ruined MG nest. Figuring this attack needed at name, and taking some inspiration from his current position. Ranma gave his new punishing attacking attack a name. **"Shubiteki Cōnterfire!" (Defensive Counterfire)**

By using his speed and finely-tuned danger senses, Ranma was able to catch and throw the concrete shrapnel back at Ryoga without taking any damage himself. Though the down side was the exhausting amount of focus required to do this. He could clearly see how strong this technique could be, but he knew he needed more training.

A single shard was not going to hurt Ryoga, but there were hundreds. The damage was stacking up again. This time he had to focus all his attention of defending himself. If his guard slipped for even a hundredth of a second, he would be serious trouble.

When he ran out of fragments to throw, Ranma immediately jumped to finish the fight. Planning to put Ryoga down with a flying kick to the face. He leapt out the ruined pillbox to attempt what he hoped would be his final attack.

Ryoga's was tunic was in tatters. His arms and torso were peppered with stone flakes and shallows cuts. That last attack nearly got through his defenses.

He sensed another assault approaching. Without taking the time to look, Ryoga ducked under the kick that would have ended put him down for the count. Shooting his hands upward, he managed to grasp onto Ranma's leg. the lost boy slammed his rival into the ground with cratering results. Tightened his hold on Ranma's leg and he began to spin.

Similar to an Olympic hammer thrower the, fanged boy used the mass of his rival to increase the velocity of his spin. When he released his hold. Ranma was sent flying for the 3rd time that fight.

Now that, that annoyance was temporarily out of his hair. The lost boy could focus on getting the concrete shards out of his skin. They were starting to irritate him.

Ranma was honestly getting a little annoyed. He liked flying and all, but he wanted it to be of his own accord. Being tossed around like a ragdoll can get old very fast. He did have to thank Ryoga for throwing him so far. The damage he accumulated over the course of the fight was beginning to really hamper his ability to alter his aerial trajectory.

Knowing that the fight was nearly over, and that either of them could win at this point. Ranma made his way back to the one place that was completely saturated with hot Ki. Ground zero of Ryoga's **Aka Suisei Funka** technique.

From a distance Ryoga could see where Ranma was heading. Significantly slower than when he started, the fanged fighter ran to meet his archrival. He knew their fight was reaching its climax. Admittingly, that knowledge saddened him a bit.

Ryoga was not sure when it happened. He guessed it was around the time he first beat Ranma in a straight up fight. The elation he felt from finally overcoming his rival was nearly intoxicating. From then on, he savored every small triumph in their fights. To him, simply landing a heavy blow was a small victory. The bandanaed boy had eventually stopped caring about just beating Ranma. Their fights themselves were what enlivened him. That fact that Ranma enjoyed fighting just as much as him. Just knowing that they would punch each other's lights out. Ironically, it gave him a sort of, peace at mind.

Once Ryoga made his way to the edge of the massive crater he created. He saw Ranma in the center, just as roughed up as himself.

"Ready to end this?" The Ranma called up from his position.

' _No.'_ Ryoga thought, but verbally replied. "Yeah, let's end it."

The fighting continued once more.

Ranma was calm and collected as he pushed back his emotions. The area grew physically colder as he fell into the **Soul of Ice** **.** The Saotome boy was set on dodging Ryoga's attacks while moving in a shrinking spiral.

Ryoga knew what Ranma was trying to do, but he had a plan. When Ranma is in the process of throwing his short uppercut, he leaves himself wide open. It was a gamble. The fanged fighter was not sure if he could take another heavy hit, but it was the only way.

Seeing that Ranma was nearly done with the setup, Ryoga bit down and made his move. _'Here I come!'_

Like a cannonball the fanged fighter launched himself at his target. Aiming purely to disrupt Ranma's final attack and tackle him to the ground.

Just as Ranma cocked back his uppercut, Ryoga was practically on top of him. At the speed that his rival was going. He would block the punch with his body and stop the **Hiryū Shōten Ha** from activating.

Ranma knew one thing. If Ryoga blocked this attack he would be taken to the ground and beaten into submission. Various techniques flashed through his head at lightning speeds. Paralysis and puppet shiatsu would not stop Ryoga's momentum. He was out of position for all of his more powerful kicking techniques. His **Mōko Takabisha** needed to be charged up. The **Kiseru/Fan throw** needed an actual fan or smoking pipe. None of the goofy **Saotome Secret Techniques** were even brought up, and the sealed techniques were out of the question.

All he had left was the **Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken (Imperial Roasting Sweet Chestnuts Over an Open Fire Fist).**

Like the **Shishi Hōkōdan** **,** the **Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken** was not originally an attack. It was an Amazonian speed training technique. Ranma weaponized it to allowed himself to jackhammer his fist hundreds of times into a singular spot. It would destroy his opponent's defenses and break through their natural durability. The technique does sacrifice strength for speed, but the damage is almost always guaranteed against combatants slower than himself.

The attack would be powerful enough to break throw Ryoga's durability, and end the fight, but was he fast enough to throw enough punches before it was too late?

There was no more time to think.

Existing out of the **Soul of Ice** **,** Ranma converted the Ki in his arm back to its normal temperature. He attempted the technique that would win him the fight.

It did not go as planned.

Ranma, too rushed to perform the techniquecorrectly ended up throwing a single uppercut. All the Ki that he suffused into his arm was suddenly released all at once, into Ryoga's jaw. There were mixed results.

The punch connected with devastating force. An outcome that neither of them expected from a single strike. Unlike the normal **Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken** **.** This accidental technique did not waist any energy in the retraction of Ranma's arm. This alone made it twice as powerful as its parent technique, at the very least.

The downsides were pretty obvious. It was only 1% as fast the **Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken** **.** The average civilian could punch that fast with ease. Then there was the dislocated shoulder. Normally, punching something reduces the risk of dislocation to zero. The amount power that Ranma had in that punch literally launched his arm out of its socket.

Ryoga, being the one who was hit, was now limply flying through the air hanging onto the edge of consciousness by threads. He was bound to land just short of The Hibiki Trenches. Directly into a flooded crater.

Holding onto his, currently, useless right arm, Ranma made his way out of the crater they fought in. "Damnit, that's not what I was trying to do. Shit!" He exhaled.

As he made his way in the direction that Ryoga flew. Ranma tried to reassure himself that he did not murder his friend by accident. "He has to be all right. Something like that wouldn't seriously hurt him. Right? Yeah, he's way too tough…" Memories of the condition he found Ryoga in after the wedding flashed through Ranma's head. " **SHIT**!"

Ranma ran as fast as he could in his state.

When he reached the crater that Ryoga had fallen into, Ranma could barely believe what he saw. Ryoga was face up, and floating in the waters of the flooded crater. In his human form.

"What the…" Said Ranma, honestly dumbfounded. Broken from his slight stupor, Ranma rushed down into the crater. His curiosity was peaked. The gender-cursed martial artist wondered if he was also cured. The why, or how did not matter to him.

Ranma stepped down into the water, and waited for the familiar morphing sensation that came along with redistribution of his body weight.

Nothing.

Ryoga groaned, the sensation of cool water kept him from fully passing out. He rubbed his sore chin and thought, _'what hit me?'_ He thought. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that Ranma could do that to him. Pantyhose Taro, yes, but Ranma Saotome? Ryoga knew his rival was strong, but that punching power blindsided him.

wild splashing and an odd singing could be heard nearby, but he was still too groggy to really care for it. Until one of the splashes hit him directly in the face.

The cool refreshing water did not feel too bad on his sore body, so he continued float there, rubbing his chin. Rubbing his human chin, with his human hand…

Alarm bells immediately went off in Ryoga's head. His eyes shot open to look at his hand. 'I'm…I'm not a pig?' he thought. Then spoke, "I'm not a pig? I'm not a pig. I'm not a pig! I'M NOT A PIG! I'M CURED!" Elated that he was not 'bweeing' anymore, Ryoga started hopping around and joined in the singing.

The songs, "Pork No More!" By Hibiki Ryoga, and "Never Gonna Be a Girl Again!" By Saotome Ranma, were loudly sung.

The two boys were so wrapped up in their dancing and singing that they failed notice that earth was moving again. The WW1 style trenches, the craters, everything was converting back into grey sand. The two, seemingly, uncursed boys danced and sang through it all.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Watching the odd scene from the windows of the castle were the diminutive Happosai and a classically beautiful woman. She was great in size with an above average height of 5'10ft (178cm). Her deep red hair was done up in a mimi kakushi hairstyle. A very similar style to that of Ranma's mother, Nodoka Saotome. Though the mystery woman's hair was more floral in its design and held a yellow chrysanthemum in its curls.

Her regally, pale skin was untouched by makeup, and her facial features were smooth, symmetrical, and refined. The woman's nature-green iromuji kimono did a good job at hiding the majority of her figure, but it was easy to see that she was 'gifted.' On her feet she wore modern jika-tabi split-toe boots, popular amongst the manual workers.

Had there been anyone that knew Happosai. They would have been flabbergasted at the fact that the perverted gnome was behaving himself for once. If Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome saw this? They would have been waving signs proclaiming 'The End is Nigh.' Most of the Nerima populace would actually believe them too.

"This is quite the show." The woman said while stifling her laughs. "I am quite surprised that they have enough energy to move. I was sure their little scuffle would tucker them out."

Happosai grinned at those words. "Those two could go at it for hours if left alone. If they weren't dancing right now, they'd probably be resting up for round 2."

"Really now? It is always good to see such youthful vitality." Looking back down at the two boys, she frowned. "I think you should break it up soon. That arm of Ranma's is bothering me."

"Are you sure you don't want to meet him?" The Grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts questioned. "I'm sure Ranma would love to meet his…grandparent."

The redheaded vixen tightly closed her eyes and let loose a pained sigh. "If I were able to, I would have done so long ago. Until my son is free from that damnable curse, I fear my presence would only make them suffer more."

The aged master wished he knew more, but he knew that any intervention on his part could make things worse. Mysteries older than himself always peaked his interest.

She turned and started to walk away. "One more thing. If I catch you violating my grandson. You will be punished."

"Bah." Happosai scoffed. "You have nothing to worry about. Ranma walked through torii. His curse should be long gone by now." Happosai stifled a sob as he remembered the death cries of Ranma-Chan. "The last time I checked, and believe me I checked, Jusenkyo curses are not divine, sadly."

"Be that as it may. Nothing ever seems to be simple when Ranma is involved." Walking away, the woman steadily disappeared in a somber display of spectral flame.

Happosai watched the humorous display down in the field for a little while longer before deciding to go down to great the celebrating boys.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

"Ok, ok you've embarrassed yourselves long enough." Said Happosai, now mere feet from the dancing young men.

"huh?" Responded the dancing duo. They finally noticed the landscape returned back to grey sand. "Wha-?" They both said unison.

"I said you can stop hopping around like buffoons,"

Neither of the boys new what a buffoon was. Using context clues they figured it was some sort of insult. If not for being so winded from their recent fight and merrymaking. They would have done more than glare at the old gnomish man.

"You got some explaining to old man." Replied Ranma. "What the heck is this place, and why didn't you say anything about it before?"

"I will answer that question later. In the meantime, hold still for a second." Happosai said as he walked up to Ranma.

The ponytailed boy was confused about what the old man was planning. Until he felt a numbing pain in his arm in conjunction with a sickening crack of his arm being relocated back into the socket.

"GU-hmmm!" Ranma bit off a howl of pain. He was left kneeling down, cradling his newly relocated arm. "You could've warned me! You old fart!"

Ryoga spoke up. "Suck it up Ranma. Its not like it would hurt any less if you were paying attention."

"Actually, I could have made it completely painless with a few pain-suppressing shiatsu points." Replied Grandmaster Happosai.

"Then Why didn't you!?" Hissed Ranma. The pain in his arm, now waning.

"Didn't feel like it." The old man easily replied. Turning away from his irate pupil, he continued as if nothing was wrong. "Now follow me. I sure you two are wondering what this place is. Why I decided to bring you here now. Why your curses are cured. And so on. Am I right?"

Neither Ranma nor Ryoga could deny that their curiosity was at an all-time high. Both boys nodded.

Without turning around to see that they nodded, Happosai spoke. "Good, I will explain what you need to know later, but for now, let me give you two the general tour. I don't get to do this very often, you know."

Happosai led the boys to the edge of the arena were their packs had been moved to by the sands. A ruined wagon sat next to their belongings as well.

Without stopping to wait for the two to get their packs. Happosai had already moved on towards the western side of town.

"Hey old man, what'll we do about Ryoga? He's bound to get lost and wind up in Peru the second we leave him alone." Ranma said from in front of the directionally challenged boy.

Ryoga rewarded the rude, yet correct, boy with a thump to the head. "My sense of direction is not that bad!"

Rubbing the bump on his head, Ranma retorted. "Yes, it is." He added a little extra nark on what that last bit just to annoy Ryoga into attacking again.

This time, the easily angered boy threw a solid punch. Hoping to send the human shaped irritant through a wall.

Ranma had other plans. Jumping over the fist he knew was coming towards him, the ponytailed boy hit Ryoga's arm with a number of paralysis pressure points. Just to add some insult to injury, he landed on Ryoga's arm to use as a balancing beam.

Ignoring the commotion behind him. Happosai simply continued on with tour.

The old man pointed out a few shops, dojos, and restaurants that may interest them. Pointing out a few lingerie stores as a joke, but internally hoped that Ranma screwed up his curse removal.

After 'walking' along the main road for a little bit, they traversed through a small portion of the side roads that led to, and made up some of the smaller districts of the city. Eventually, they ended up circling around to the eastern side of the city. Not much was different, but more shops, restaurants, and inns had multiple languages on their signs. Even some dojos and schools where for foreign forms of known martial arts. The variety ranged from Ancient Greek **παγκράτιον (Pankration)** to **American/British WW2 Combatives**.

Any martial artist seeking to learn as many different fighting styles as they possibly could, would have been giddy with anticipation. Too bad Ranma was preoccupied with keeping Ryoga busy.

The short tour took the trio a little over 4 hours to complete, and they had only saw, at the most, 10% of the city had to offer. Then there was the fact that neither Ranma nor Ryoga paid any attention to the tour. Happosai then led the substantially more docile, winded, boys to the high-end district of the city. Stopping in front of one of the doors of a large two-story ryokan

"Now," spoke the aged master, "This will be where your new home."

Ranma could not shake the felling that he forgot something very important, but brushed it aside for a more pressing matter. "What's your game old man? I got more than enough reasons not trust any of your 'gifts.' I don't believe for a second that you'd give us a place like this."

Happosai visibly recoiled in faux pain at Ranma's words. Eyes watered and enlarged to a comical degree, the geezer feigned innocence. "Oh, what could a poor, old man such as my self do to earn the ire of my greatest disciple? My actions were in your best interest, I swear."

Ranma was not convinced at the master's words. "How the hell was feeling me up supposed to be 'in my best interest?'" The formerly gender cursed boy mocked in irritation.

"Stimulating a young woman's breasts will help them grow bigger." Happosai answered easily.

Unamused, Ranma took a swing at the perverted lech, but missed as the faster, and unfatigued, old gnome hopped away towards the castle. "Sorry, but I have some business to take care of. I'll meet you two at the Swedish Smorgasbord Buffet at seven. You know the place."

"He better have a good explanation for—," Ranma was suddenly, and painfully, reminded what he forgot. The pressure point he used on Ryoga only lasts a couple of hours.

"Finally!" Exhaled Ryoga. "My arm was starting to bug me."

Rubbing his jaw, Ranma said. "Good for you…You could've asked nicely you know."

"I did, you just didn't listen."

"Screaming, 'Ranma, I'm going to kill you if you don't fix this.' Is not what I call nice…" Ranma deadpanned

"It was as nice as you deserved." Ryoga said and turned to go inside the building.

Ranma followed, just to make sure that Ryoga did not get lost. He was also using Ryoga as a meat shield in case Happosai hid some traps around the place. Better Ryoga than him, he reasoned.

If this had been a normal ryokan style building, it would have easily run well over 500,000 JPY a day.

The smooth-tiled genkan connected to a rectangular 12-jo washitsu to the right. The walls in this room were mostly made up of toko alcoves for storage and decorations.

A long, 5ft wide, hallway followed forward. The intermediate styled staircase dug into the wall to the right, but followed up the hallway forward. In the hollowed-out area, underneath the staircase, an interior waterfall that fed into a small, rectangular, lotus pond.

"You really don't trust the old man too much do you." Spoke Ryoga as he headed toward the door at the opposite end of the 18-jo room.

"Being constantly groped by someone tends to erode any trust you have in them." Ranma thought back to all the times the old freak felt up his female form. He was not able to hold back the disgusted shudders such memories came with.

 **Whistling,** "Hey Ranma, look at this." Ryoga called back.

The ponytailed boy made his way over to what Ryoga was pointing out.

Looking over the fanged boy's shoulder, Ranma saw what earned the whistle. _'Ok, that old man has a_ _ **lot**_ _of explainin to do.'_ Ranma thought.

A finely gardened outdoor terrace with a sunken, stone, onsen in the center. To their immediate right was a fully stocked bathing station, large enough to fit six people at one time. The foliage edged footpaths were made of fine stone that contrasted well with the hardwood veranda Ranma and Ryoga were currently standing in. The veranda itself, closed off and extended around the far corner to the left. Encasing the area was a large stone and hardwood privacy wall.

Neither of the boys could believe what they were seeing. Ryoga was amazed at how nice everything was.

Ranma, grew even more suspicious. He was having a hard time trying to wrap his head around why Happosai would be so generous. _'There has to be a tricked.'_ He thought to himself. Deciding to vocalized his confusion. "It's nice and all, but why!?"

To the Ryoga, something like this was rare, but not rare enough to warrant any overt shock. Having been to many places on his travels, the lost boy had run into his fair share of grand places that let him stay the night. If anything was confusing to him, it was Ranma's reaction. Raising and eyebrow, he asked, "What's with you?"

"Nothing about this makes sense! That's what's with me!" Ranma began ticking off his fingers for everything that has bugged him since first arriving. "The forest, with its warding aura, the old freak being nice, that arena with the weird grey sand that turned into a battlefield, our curses are gone, _'not that I mind,'_ and where is everyone?"

Ryoga had to admit that some of those questions were legitimately concerning. No matter how many times he has gotten lost. He has never come across a place like this. _'Maybe he has a point.'_ He thought to himself.

"We'll just have to ask the old man at the smorgasbord he mentioned earlier. I'm sure he has an explanation for all of this." The fanged boy started moving over to the nearest bathing station.

"What's a smorgasbord anyway?" Ranma questioned.

"It's some type of European buffet, I think." He answered. Removing the sweaty rags that made up his clothes. Eying his ruined clothes, "Look, that fight took a lot out of me. _'More than I'd ever to admit.'_ I think I'll relax for a bit."

"heh, tell me about it. I was honestly expecting nothing more than a simple spar. I'll be honest, you surprised me when you went all out from the start. Little heads up next time." Ranma was said as he ran the fight over in his head. _'I Guess a dense dog can learn new tricks.'_

"Yeah, I saw what you did in that fight against Saffron. Didn't feel like falling behind, you know?" Ryoga, recalled the titanic battle that resulted in the destruction of a mountain range and the flooding of the Jusenkyo Valley. He also remembered Ranma created two new variants of the **Hiryū Shōten Ha.** His primary inspiration for expanding his own repertoire.

Washing away the thoughts with cold water, his attention change to the feeling the liquid had on his human skin.

As good as a warm soak sounded good to Ranma, and is aching body. His curiosity, born from justifiable paranoia, urged him to looking around a bit more. "I'll join you after checking out the rest of the place." Those words earned a lazy wave from the Ryoga. The ponytailed boy was off to look at the rest of the luxury apartment.

The base floor was larger then expected. Ranma had followed down the rest of the hallway and came across an open Euro-Japanese kitchen and two large rooms linked up to it. He could guess that those other rooms were the living and dining rooms. From where he stood, Ranma was able to see that the empty rooms each had a sliding door. He figured that it connected up to the veranda outside.

The kitchen would have had Kasumi salivating. Light, walnut bamboo floors, contrasting with the darker wood cabinets and polished, torquay countertops. The island marked the edge of the kitchen while also providing seating. Like some of the gourmet kitchens, this one was fully equipped. In the island, a 10-burner stovetop sat atop a side by side double oven. A matching, triple wall oven cabinet sat next to a double basin sink.

Briefly, Ranma began to wonder why anyone would need so many stoves and ovens. Who would have a such a huge appetite?

The rest of the appliances, utensils and food storage were of equal quality and extravagance. Too bad the pantry and refrigerator were both empty of food.

Ranma headed upstairs with his stuff to pick out which room would be his. He was silently excited about the idea of finally have a room to himself. No more panda farts and loud snoring.

The upstairs hallway was shaped like a reverse L. Down the short branch of this hallway. There were two rooms with sliding doors, and a three of swing doors. The swing door located at the end of the wall led to a spotless furo and toilet room. The best part, in Ranma's option, was that the door could be locked.

He opened the two sliding doors to reveal two moderately sized bedrooms. Each room was about the size of the Tendo's guest room.

The other two swing doors led to a modern laundry room and some extra storage.

Down the long branch of the hallway two more sliding doors. Ranma, seeing a pattern in which rooms where what, guested that these two rooms where other bedrooms. Just to make sure that he was right, Ranma checked the closer one.

It was a larger version of the other two rooms he saw. Based on the number of tatami mats he saw, the room had to 50% larger than the others. From the doorway, he could see that it even had a walk-in closet.

Closing the door, Ranma made his way to the final room at the end of the hallway.

Opening the sliding door, he saw the master bedroom.

Even larger than the last room, the master bedroom had enough space to fit and extra media. The private bathroom was of the same quality as the one in the hall, and the walk-in closet was also slightly larger than the last rooms.

Ranma made his way through the doorway to get a better look at the room. He honestly liked it, but what was he going to use all this space for?

The bathroom was nice, but he had nothing against bathing with other people. The closet was huge more than enough space, but he could fit all of his clothes in a small dresser. Ranma thought about all the feminine costumes he had collected from his time in Nerima. _'Won't be needing those anymore.'_ He thoughtwith a smile.

After looking around a for a little while longer. Ranma dropped his stuff in the master bedroom, figuring that a little extra space never hurt. He went back down stairs to join Ryoga in the hot spring.

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"Rest of the place is pretty nice." Ranma told the young man as he, went to get ready to join Ryoga is the onsen.

Ryoga was not just sitting idly. "I've been thinking." immediately stopped to give Ranma a hard glare when he heard him snickering.

"Sorry, sorry keep going." Ranma placated his rival, and went back to removing his dragon whisker hair tie.

"I've been thinking about that last punch you hit me with. Where the hell did that come from?" Ryoga questioned.

"Oh, that? Screwed up a chestnut fist and ended up hitting you with all the built Ki." Ranma said dumping a bucket of cool water on himself.

Ryoga turned to give his rival a deadpanned stare. "So, you're saying you beat me by accident…"

Ranma shrugged. "A win's a win, Ryoga. If you want, we could go another round. And next time I won't be worried about getting splashed." He confidently said while entering the hot spring.

"Hah, you say that, but I had you running the entire time, even when there was no water nearby." Ryoga shot back.

"And who sent to you to dreamland? Face it Ryoga, I'm just better." Ranma said as he closed his eyes and laid back with arms positioned behind his head. Underneath his confident exterior, he was silently irked that Ryoga managed to catch up to him as much as he did.

Due to Genma's teachings, Ranma rarely stopped training. Minor things like walking to school and eating were turning into training. If Ryoga was catching up to him in terms of skill, he would have to find more mundane tasks to turn into training.

Insulted by Ranma's bold comment, Ryoga began to speak. "Why you, you…uh, Ranma?" But, something off about his rival stopped him.

"Hm? What's…" Ranma paused at the sound of her voice. The redhead's eyes shot open in alarm.

Looking down, Ranma was met with familiar far skin, a pair of large endowments, an hourglass figure, and missing member. As she looked down, loose scarlet strands of hair fell down in front of her eyes.

Looking up to see if Ryoga was a pig, Ranma was dismayed. Ryoga, was still human.

"What? How come you're not a pig?" Visibly unnerved, Ranma began to splash herself with the warm waters of the hot spring. Nothing happened.

Ranma was panicking at this point. Warm water was supposed change her back into her rightful body.

Ryoga did not know what was going on. He had been relaxing for almost 30 minutes in the hot spring, but nothing happened to him. He never felt the morphing sensation that came along with his Jusenkyo transformation. Then Ranma came in and was transformed about 10 seconds after getting in the onsen. That also did not make sense to the formerly piglet-curse young man. Jusenkyo curse activate immediately. They do not require extended exposure to water.

He watched as the Ranma scrambled out of the spring to get to the washing station. As she ran past him, Ryoga noticed a few differences about her body.

Ranma ran to washing station to get some cold water, hoping against hope that maybe the trigger switched to cold water. Dumping the bucket of cool on her head, nothing happened.

Bashing her fist into the ground, Ranma was mix of shock, confusion and anger. Unlike the Full Body Cat's Tongue or the Pail of Preservation, she had no clue why she was locked. She hated being locked as a girl. A week, a month if she had to, but she was just suddenly turned without warning and with no clear way to turn back.

"Uh, Ranma?" Ryoga tried to get Ranma's attention, adamantly trying to ignore her nudity.

"What Ryoga? What do you want?" Came the disheartened girl.

"Something is…different about you." Ryoga pointed out.

"Oh, golly gee, I wonder what that could be." Believing that he was talking about her transformation.

"Not that!" Ryoga yelled. "I mean your female body is different from before."

Calming down slightly, Ranma gave herself a more thorough once over. She did find somethings different that she had not notice before.

Ranma noticed that all of her scars and calluses were gone, but remembering that Ryoga's body had healed in one day, she brushed it off without giving it a second thought. Something that did draw her attention was the feeling of the cold-water puddle she was sitting in. It felt normal to her. It was not cold, nor was it hot, the water was a comfortable temperature. She could have sworn that the water was cold before when she used it as a guy. Experimentally, Ranma activated the cold water and put herself under it.

Ryoga noticing the change in the redhead's mood when she went under the cold water. "Is something wrong?"

"Ryoga, can you come here for a sec.? I want you to check something out for me."

"…Sure." Stepping out of the onsen, Ryoga made his way over to pouring facet. "What is it" He ask curiously.

"Is this water cold?" She asked.

' _This better not turn me into a piglet,'_ He thought, as he reached in and touched the water. "It's freezing, why do you ask?" Ryoga said. As he was shaking the numbness in his hand away, he could have sworn he was smelling something sweet and creamy, but earthy at the same time. It was a pleasant smell. Something you would likely find at a high-class pastry shop.

"It feels warm." Ranma answered. "…why the hell are you sniffing me!?"

Ryoga had not realized that the scent was coming from Ranma. "Huh? Uh um, you uh…smell nice."

"…Thanks…, now back off." Ranma said, a little weirded out by her rival's behavior. She did not want another guy after her. Especially not someone as tough as Ryoga.

"Sorry, the smell just caught me off guard." Ryoga apologized.

Smelling herself, Ranma could not really smell anything more then the soap. It was alright she guessed, but nothing to act like a creep over. "Whatever, just tone down on the perv. an we'll be good."

She then went back to the hot spring to test the water again. She new how warm the spring was when she first went in it. Testing the supposedly warmer water, she noticed that it felt the same as the water faucet.

"Yeah, something's off about my body." Ranma conceded. "But that still does explain why I'm stuck like this." Motioning to her naked figure.

Gripping his nose, Ryoga turned around to face the wall. "Damnit Ranma! Stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?"

Red in the face, he spoke. "Drawing attention to your body! I don't want to see that!"

Due to his life as a lone wanderer, Ryoga never got the chance to get used to the naked female form. No were near as repressed as the boys from the Musk Dynasty in China, but not as used to it as most young men his age.

Normally, when Ranma was either naked or dressed up, he would be too depressed, angry, or emotionally drained to pay it any mind. The time when Ranma was under the Fishing Rod of Love's curse and how she acted. That was a major sore spot for him.

Ranma was completely infatuated with him, so much to the point she would have gladly let him beat her over the head, with a shovel, until she died. Remembering how nice she was to him, even if it was not real, it only made him angry. Not angry at Ranma for her actions, but with himself for opting to murder her so he could confess to Akane, over actually looking for a way to cure his friend.

Ever sense then, Ryoga gradually started to act nicer. It was not, and still is not, an easy process, but what Ranma did for him at Mt. Horai, after he and Musu tried to betray her, solidified his resolve.

The unforeseen consequence of this was that Ryoga was finally able to notice how womanly Ranma-chan is, physically. He knew she was attractive, he had even called her adorable through his haze of rage when he first saw her. But simply knowing that Ranma is actually a guy on the inside, and that they both find the idea of being with another man, let alone each other, disgusting. That realization quelled, killed, buried and warded any thoughts greater than physical attraction.

Ranma was confused at Ryoga's reaction. "The hell's wrong with you? You're acting like it's the first time you've seen me naked. What gives?"

"Shut up, it's nothing!" Ryoga yelled, unconvincingly. "I've been soaking long enough. I'm heading off to pick a room."

As Ryoga left the redheaded girl in the onsen, she called after him. "Don't get lost!"

From behind two closed doors, she heard a muffled, "SHUT IT!"

Snickering as she climbed back into the hot spring to finish her bath, Ranma was now left alone with more pressing matters than Ryoga's weird behavior, her curse.

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Ryoga had picked out one of the smaller rooms near the bathroom. He had already changed into a new set of clothes that matched his ruined set. He had abstained from unpacking his stuff. As much as the lost boy hated to admit it, Ranma was right about his sense of direction. He just hated that the bastard always made fun of him for it.

Using this opportunity wash his mind of what he saw in the onsen, with pleasant memories from when he was younger.

His recollections ended up reminding him of the hardships that came with wandering alone in world. This depressing thought process was interrupted by a loud feminine cry from down the hall.

"ARE YOU **KIDDING** ME!"

Choosing to ignore the her, Ryoga went back to thinking about his family curse. For as long as he could remember, his family was cursed to get lost. They seemed to have the uncanny ability to always get to where they are trying go, which was good. The problem was that it took around a week to get anywhere, even to a neighboring house.

He often wondered what they did to earn enough money to actually buy a house. Most places normally fire people who disappear for an entire week. That was until he got lost in his family home, and ended up in the basement. That was when he found out what his father did for money. He sold handmade masterworks of his craftsmanship.

At first, he thought it was lame, but that quickly changed when he saw what his father was working on. It looking like some kind of breast plate with abs. Looking around he could see the rest of the armors and weapons. They were stored on hand carved stone mannequins That looked to be modeled after the people the armor was fitted for. There had to have been at least twenty separate works, all in different styles from different time periods.

While looking at the tools, something in him was drawn to it. Some part of him was yearning to create something, anything.

"I see you've finally made your way down here, Ryoga." A deep masculine voice spoke from behind the six-year-old.

"AH! Daddy! I-I got lost again! I—" The young Hibiki was silenced when a calloused hand patted him on the head.

He was a large man, well above 6ft tall. His short hair was the same shade of hunter green as his son. The man wore a small pair of circle rimmed glasses. His saxon-esque face was strong, yet warming, and his thick beard was long an untamed. This was mostly due to wandering around for who knows how long. A large smile crested his face. One would be able to see that Ryoga got his canines from his mother. The man's apparel consisted of a grey suit vest and white dress shirt. The shirt's sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Black formal pants were worn with grey socks. The clothes he wore were dirty and torn, but that was common for most Hibikis.

"Hehehe" The older man let out a good-hearted chuckle "You have nothing to be nervous about, son. It was only a matter of time before you made your way down here. I'm just glad I was here when you found this place."

"What is this place Daddy?"

The other man to a few steps past his. With great pride, he answered. "The one place I know I'll make it back to son, my workshop. No matter where in the world I'm lost, I know I'll make it back here." His words were almost as passionate as the ones he to match the tone he makes when speaking of his mom. In fact, he described her as the woman who could always find him.

Ryoga was at a loss, he lacked the understanding to truly grasp his father's words. "I don't get."

"Haha, you will soon enough. But for now, how about I teach you a few crafts? If you want that is."

The sensation from before grew inside young boy's body, and with a massive grin, he answered. "Yes!"

The elder Hibiki's face lit up with pride. "Come here, and I'll teach you everything you need to know. Then we can start on something simple till you get the hanged of it."

The father son duo had worked and trained for hours on end. Neither one wished to stop, knowing full well that they would both be lost wandering the second they left the room. It was a rare bonding moment for them, something that they would both cherish for the rest of their days. But all goods things must come to an end eventually.

Forgetting his shameless housemate for the moment, Ryoga looked down at his multi-ton, battle umbrella. Every ounce of his skill went into this, his first work of craftsmanship. He looked forward to the day that he would make it back to his father's workshop.

After his brief trip down memory lane, Ryoga went back down stairs.

It was not long until Ranma came down as well. "You're still here?" Stupefied by the fact the Eternally Lost Boy had not gotten himself lost.

"What is that supposed to mean!"

Ranma waved her hands in an attempt to pacify her hotheaded roommate. "Nothing, nothing. I'm just surprise. Usually you're gone without a trace by now."

His temper cooled, but not gone, Ryoga could not help but retort with a little bit of ribbing of his own. He chose an easy target. Making it obvious that he was looking her up and down, he spoke. "Gave up on being a man already? I didn't know you were so weak will, Ranma." The fanged boy finished by mirroring Ranma's infamous smirk.

She was wearing a more feminine and tantalizing version of her favorite clothes. The red silk tangzhuang she normally wore was now missing the top portion of its decorative knot work, exposing ample amounts of cleavage. Normally the shirt would be too large for her smaller frame, but this one appeared to be made for her body. Her black cotton pants were also changed. Instead of being loose and baggy, they were tight and hugged her hips like gym leggings.

"These were normal when I put them on damnit!"

"Riiight." Ryoga said, purposely sounding unconvinced.

"I'm serious! All of my guy clothes changed when I tried to wear them!" Ranma practically yelled at Ryoga. _'Damnit what's going on!?'_

It was Ryoga's turn to try and calm the irritated girl, "Calm down, I'm sure the old man has some idea of what's going on."

"NO! He'll do everything he can just to make sure I'm stuck like this!"

"Well do you have any better ideas?" At Ranma's silence to his question Ryoga reassured her "I'm sure the both of us can beat him down if he tries something."

Not seeing any other way, Ranma agreed. "I hope you're right. Can't imagine living as a girl for the rest of my life."

"Can't be any worse than living as a pig." Ryoga gave his two cents.

Ranma could help but agree with that statement. She was, at least, still a powerful martial artist, and her mother already declared here manly…But she was a little nervous with how her mother might react to the idea of her son being stuck as a girl, permanently.

Taking a deep breath, and pushing the thought of meeting her mother like this to the back of her mind. "Ok, so we just have to find out where the Swedish Smorgasbord Buffet is? The old freak told us to meet him there." She said, already making her way to the front door.

Ryoga follow her to the front door. When they were switching their shoes, he saw that Ranma's larger slippers shrunk in size and a strap formed on the instep. The whole morphing process was very reminiscent of a Jusenkyo transformation.

"Wow, you were not kidding about what was going on with your clothes." Ryoga conceded.

"Yeah, now let's just hurry up and find the buffet. I don't care if I have to throttle that old freak's neck first, I can't stay like this!"

Ryoga, having been cursed himself, usually felt depression and humiliation when it came to his piglet form. Personally, he felt like Ranma was blowing it out of proportion. "What so bad about staying female? At least you could do everything you could before, right?"

"It's not that I hate being a girl from time to time. I can live with that, no problem. If I had at least some control over it, even better. I just can't stand the idea of living like this for the rest of my life. Who knows how many Kunos, whale mouths, or random psychos are gonna try and get with me. That's not even mentioning Pop trying to sell me off to the highest bidder."

Due to Ryoga normally not being around to see some of the men Ranma's attracted in the past. He simple brushed it off, as her over exaggerating.

Once they made it out the door, Ranma led the way down the street out of the upper-class district.

After a few minutes of walking, Ryoga had to ask. "Hey Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh, do you know where the restaurant is?

"Nope…" She bluntly replied.

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Back in the Nerima District of Tokyo, the routine havoc that had become an almost daily occurrence, was replaced with whispers.

Everyone in the chaotic district that knew of Ranma and his 'friend's' exploits had been abuzz with gossip and speculation. Some of the rumors spawned from this ranged from fantastical to disturbing. But anything outside of the normal Nerima craziness was shot down and quickly forgotten.

News that the Tendo-Saotome engagement was made null and void quickly spread though the region. Nobody knows how the news spread so fast, but like many things involving information most people had a pretty well-educated guess.

The first people to hear the news about the end of the Tendo-Saotome engagement, after paying an expensive premium, were the… 'eccentric' occupants of the Kuno Estate. Each with their own takes on the matter.

Intensely training inside the dojo of the massive Kuno Estate was a tall young man of 6ft. Well above average for most fully-grown men in Japan. His dark brown hair, normally neatly trimmed short, was mussed and soldered at the edges. Secretly, he aspired to grow it longer, so as to put it in a more modern chonmage topknot. The version where he did not have to shave the top of his head bald.

His strong, handsome face was blackened and smudged in some places. His vivid, electric blue eyes were tinged with a hinted of instability. The uwagi kendogi kimono-like jacket was worn loosely on his toned body. His once white jacket was smudged with ash and smoke rose from the edges. The black hakama trousers he wore showed signs that they had caught on fire at some point.

Takewaki's stamina was reaching its limit after the hours upon hours of training, but he knew he had to perfect this new technique of his. Driven by the possibility that his new attack would be able to strike down the vile Saotome Ranma. His dream of freeing the fierce tigress, Tendo Akane and the pigtailed girl from the scoundrel that bound them. He believed that once the target of his ire was gone. His two loves would be free from the sorcerer's evil bewitchment and leap into his loving embrace.

When Tatewaki heard the news that Ranma is no longer to be wed to the Akane. At first, he was overjoyed, but soon he realized something truly horrifying. Saotome could now focusing all his attention on the carefree, pigtailed girl. His worst fears could be made a reality at any moment. The thought that Saotome could force himself upon his exotically beautiful future wife. It nearly drove him mad…

Tatewaki threw himself into his training to prepare himself for his righteous battle to save the fair tree-born-kettle-girl. Using his nickname, the Blue Thunder of Furikan High, as inspiration he tried to convert his bodily energies into blue lightning. With the power to wield one the gods' most powerful weapons of smiting. Tatewaki believed that he would finally send Saotome Ranma back to the depths of hell from whence he came. But there were two problems that have continuously plagued him.

His breath steadied, his bokken raised to strike, his body fueled by his mad devotion, Tatewaki was ready.

Concentrating on the feeling of electricity running through his body. A feeling he found hard to forget after being thrown into a power line when he tried to lovingly embrace Tendo Akane. No doubt due to Saotome's evil hold over her true feelings. Using the 'divine' energy that allowed him to harden his bokkens, increase his speed and enhance his strength, Tatewaki let loose his attack.

" **kaminarida! (Thunder Strike!)"**

As his wooden training sword came down, a sudden arch of patriarch colored lightning shot forward and resounding sonic boom thundered throughout the dojo. The pigtailed training dummy was destroyed in a glorious display of violent power. The wall behind the training dummy had a massive cut in it. But it appeared that Tatewaki was left unscathed this time.

Oddly enough, he has yet to actually feel pain or take damage from the electricity, and the shocking sensation held off his mounting fatigue. This is most likely due to it being made from his own Ki.

Falling to his knees in frustration. "Blast!" The first-born son of the Kuno family yelled. "What good is this attack if it destroys mine own blade?!" Looking at the newest smoldering target that had been blasted to pieces. "The power behind my strike is nothing to take lightly, but..." He began to contemplate about some way to remedy one of his techniques glaring problems. "I could possibly carry more swords…" Thinking about the idea of wielding two swords like the great Miyamoto Musashi. "hmm, I see no reason why I should not pursue this prospect."

"But more importantly!" Tatewaki pondered the primary reason for what is troubling him. "Why is mine lightning purple? I realize that purple denotes my nobility, but why can I not make it azure to fit my sobriquet? The Purple Lightning of Furikan High does not roll off the tongue, nor dances upon mine ear."

Tatewaki would have continued to lament his great plight, but he felt himself hunger for something to eat. He stood up to his full height and sighed. "I must have skipped lunch by misprision. Training on an exsufflicate stomach would consume my strength. That will not do me, nor my pigtailed goddess, any good." With his mind made up, Tatewaki made his to the kitchen of the Kuno Estate.

Even though Tatewaki knew his sister, Kodachi Kuno, was twisted in the head and horrifyingly sadistic, her cooking was amazing. He could never wrap his head around how her cooking was better than the helps'. Kodachi's food was almost intoxicatingly delicious, and helped keep his mind clear and drive away his horrifying night terrors.

As Tatewaki was eating what his younger sister called 'bouillabaisse,' the aforementioned girl giddily walked in.

Kodachi Kuno stood slightly above 160cm, two inches above the average height of the female Japanese population. Knowing this, only fueled her insufferable haughtiness and ego. Like Tatewaki, her face was regally pale and well-structured, but unlike her brother, Kodachi has grey eyes instead of blue. Her long black hair was restrained with a red ribbon in a nice side ponytail. Due to her training in **Martial Arts Gymnastics** , Kodachi's body is lithe and gives off an air grace. She wore a custom light green gymnast leotard that hugged her body and showed off her long legs. The leotard was shoulderless and was custom cut to show off her hips.

When Kodachi saw that her brother eating she decided to jovially make conversation. "Oh, there you are brother dear, I was beginning to think you would stay in the dojo all day." She said with a beaming smile.

After swallowing the delicious French cuisine, Tatewaki said, "I mustn't let my skills rust even for a moment, dear sister. The foul Saotome's magic makes short work me if I am not at my peak at all times. Now, my dear sister, tell me, what has you in such a good mood?"

Her smile grew larger at the question. "Am I really that transparent? I suppose it cannot be helped, regarding the knowledge that I know."

"Which is…?" Tatewaki asked, motioning his sister to go on.

"I suspect that the Tendo's mercenary told you about how her volatile sister finally drove off my darling Ranma-sama." Before Tatewaki could contest his sister's skewed interpretation of the information, she continued. "But unlike you, she also told me where to find that redheaded harlot's house."

Brushing away the insult to his second love, the master kendoka rushed up and clasped his sister by the shoulders. It had nearly been two years since he first met the enchanting redhead, but in all this time that he has know of her, Tatewaki never knew where her family home was. He did not even know her name. If he knew where she lives, he would be able to spend even more time with her, and have even more opportunities to thwart Saotome's attempts.

"Tell me, my dearest sister, where does my beloved live? And why was I not told of this sooner?" Tatewaki questioned.

Kodachi's smile grew sinister. "Her home is the manor that sits atop the hill near the heavily forested section of Shakujii Park. I am still surprised that such a lowly wench could belong to such a wealthy family. It matters not, but at least she is not some common street trash. Now as for your second question—" Kodachi was cut off by her brother suddenly rushing to leave the dining room. By the time that Tatewaki had left the room she finished what she had to say. "Because you left before the broker could offer you the information…"

Kodachi calmly stood up to leave the dining room to follow her brother. She made her way through the house and into the main courtyard. There she found Tatewaki laying on the ground, paralyzed.

"What is this?! Why am I unable to move my body?!" Tatewaki yelled. When he spotted his sister making her way over to him, he called out to her. "Sister! I am in need of assistance! Do you have anything to undo what has been done to me?"

"Yes, brother dear, I do." She answered.

Calming down at her words. "Thank goodness. Hurry, time is of the essence. This is clearly some type of trap devised by that Saotome to keep me from my pigtailed goddess."

"No."

Tatewaki had a pause at his sister's words. "…What do you mean 'No!?' This is not the time to be fooling around!"

"No, I will not free you, and no, it was not my Ranma-sama. It was me, dear brother." Kodachi stated as she hopped onto the privacy wall of the Kuno Estate.

"Have you gonna completely mad?! This is not time for your games! Release me this instance, so I can rescue my beloved pigtailed girl from Saotome's clutches."

"Foolish brother of mine, I can not allow you to interfere with my plans to get rid of that harlot once and for all. You shall see brother. Whatever bewitchment she has over my Ranma-sama will be ended once for all." Kodachi turned away to leave. "By any means necessary. Ohohohohohohoh!" She bounded away in the direction of the Saotome family home, laughing like a mad woman.

"No! Do not harm her! No! Nooooo!" The paralyzed fighter screamed at the top of his lungs.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

A few hundred miles North, Ranma and Ryoga had finally stumbled across the Swedish Smorgasbord Buffet. It only took them 2 hours of walking through an empty city. It would have been longer had Ryoga not been able to roughly translate some of the foreign languages.

The building was primarily of Japanese design on the exterior, but it had clear signs of Scandinavian influence with its sod roof.

Standing in front of the restaurant Ranma looked up to Ryoga and said, "Wow, looks like your terrible sense of direction can actually be good for something, nice job." Ranma rewarded her companion with one of her infamous backhanded compliments. Though to Ranma, what she said was nothing more than sincere praise.

That did not stop Ryoga, or any other person who Ranma 'compliments,' from seeing it differently.

Before Ryoga could go off on the girl for what he perceived as an insult, Ranma had already entered the building.

Inside was as minimalistic as a restaurant could be. The furniture was simple, hand carved and placed in a grid pattern, the floors were hardwood, and the tall roof exposed piping and light fixtures.

Unlike the rest of the town, this restaurant had someone from the town. A large, bearded, man dressed in a classic chef's uniform, was behind the buffet counter. His blonde beard was held together in a Viking style braid. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to expose his heavily muscled arms. Even though his body was in excellent condition, he had to have been in his late 40s to early 50s at least.

Sitting at a large table in the center of the room was Happosai, who was gorging himself on pickled herring.

Ranma, not wasting any time, stomped her way up the aged master's table intent on getting answers. Her loud, hostile footfalls on the wooden floor drew the attention of the bearded man.

Happosai remained calm with his back turned as if he didn't hear Ranma coming towards him.

"Hey old freak! What gives!?"

At the sound of female Ranma's voice, Happosai turned to see if his ears were not deceiving him. Before he could show any overt signs of surprise, a rolling pin came flying at high speeds towards the loud girl.

Ranma's danger sense went haywire telling her that the projectile was a major threat. Using both of her hands, she caught the rolling pin. The amount of force behind the kitchen implement was more than she expected resulting in her being pushed back a few feet. Her grip on the rolling pin tightened when she came to a stop causing the wooden tool to slightly crack under the pressure of her dainty looking hands. She was not in the mood to be toyed with right now.

"Hey blondie! Think you dropped this!" Ranma threw the rolling by back towards the chef, who stopped it using the palm of his hand which caused him to eliciting a grunt.

' _Kraftig, she doesn't look it, but her strength is nothing to take lightly.'_ The bearded man thought. _'Regardless, I cannot let her blatant disrespect go unchallenged._ _'_ In heavily accented and broken Japanese he replied, "Respect elders, barn. Who you think you are use such language when address Grandmaster?"

Grandmaster Happosai, answered in Ranma's steed. "Someone who has earned the right, Severin. I would like to introduce to you the newest Master level practitioners of **Anything Goes Martial Arts**. Masters Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki."

"Vad/Huh/Really?!" Severin, Ryoga and Ranma called out in confusion. The 'really' came from Ranma, because Happosai declared her a master of anything goes. The 'huh' came from Ryoga, because to his knowledge, he was not even a practitioner. The 'vad' came from the Severin, for reasons that he immediately made vocal.

"Were not next masters suppose be winners of tournament on Simushir Island? If they here, how they qualify mastery?"

Happosai immediately answered. "I watched them fight each other earlier, and judged them based on their performance. In fact, they are currently more formidable than those with at least 20 more years of training and experience."

If it was anybody else, Severin would have blown off such ludicrous claims. But it was the Grandmaster saying this, not some young braggards. He was more inclined to believe that these kids were something special, even without seeing them in action himself. He nearly kicked himself for missing such a fight in person.

"Know some people not be happy about this."

"Undoubtably, but I don't that these two would consider most them a serious threat." Happosai said evenly.

"Uh, hey old man? Since when did I become a student of Anything Goes?" Ryoga questioned. He was never able to stay in one place for too long, so he only picked up a few basic moves to practice. Rarely, He did find a few unique martial arts techniques from time to time in his travels.

Looking directly into Ryoga's eye, Happosai answered. "Since the first fight I saw between you and Ranma up to today's spar. You have expanded your repertoire to cope with a practitioner of anything goes, in doing so, you became an indirect student of Ranma." Speaking to both of the teenage Masters. "Now, why don't you join me for dinner? I can tell that neither of you have eaten anything today. And Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

"How in the world do you still have your curse? I would have thought that you would have been cured." The perverted master looked her up and down then down and up, slowly. "I do appreciate your newfound sense of fashion, very feminine."

Ranma face faulted at both Happosai's ignorance and his comment on her apparel. She knew he was going to be perverted about it, there was no doubt about that. It was his ignorance that threw her for a loop. "I was hoping you'd know why…and quit looking at me like that! The curse changed or somethin, an it's screwin with my clothes."

"Hmmm get some food and we'll discuss this over dinner." _'Clothes too? Ranma always find a way to screw up in the best way, hehehe.'_ The old pervert thought as his imagination of what type of panties Ranma's boxers turned into.

Ranma and Ryoga went over to the buffet counter where a spread of hot and cold dishes from Swedish culture. There was a wide spread of breads, pastries, cheeses, meats, a lot of herring, salads, soups and deserts. It looked exotic to Ranma, having spent most of her life in East Asia. Ryoga saw some familiar foods, but he never knew what they were called.

Looking at the bearded man behind the counter, Ranma asked "Hey, uh, Severin, right? Mind walking me through some of the food here?"

"Ja, that is my name, and have no problem with your request." He answered with a smile. It was nice to see people eat and enjoy his food, but he preferred it if people knew what they were enjoying.

Severin went on to name and explain the basic ingredients and flavors of over 50 different Swedish dishes. From the popular stekt fläsk med löksås och potatis to the high-energy goodness that is blåbärssoppa. From there he spoke of their selection of beverages. Water, milk, and sweet soups like sockerdricka and nyponsoppa, and alcohols like vodka and glogg.

When Adolphus finished his explanations, he saw that the little redhead had already stack her plates high with food. All three of them…

"Thanks," Ranma said as she went back to Happosai's table.

' _Such an appetite on that one._ _'_ Severin thought to himself. "You welcome."

Ryoga already knew what he liked, so it took significantly less time for him to get his food. He was already sitting at the table.

"Don't you have any self-control when it comes to food, Ranma?" Asked the fanged boy as he took a bite of falukorv.

"Yeah, but not when I'm actually hungry." Ranma replied as she sat down and…vacuumed her dinner. _'I feel like I got two empty stomachs.'_

"Now then, I am sure you have plenty of questions. Feel free to ask me anything." Happosai said as he sipped from his glass of glogg.

Counting off her fingers, Ranma asked in quick succession. "What is this place, why does the forest have a warding aura, where is everyone, what's this about a tournament, why didn't you mention this place before, why did you lead us here now, what's with that weird arena, why did you give us a house, what the hell happened to our curses?"

"I think at sums up my questions. Ryoga, you got any?" Ranma asked returned to her food.

"Nope. You pretty much covered it." Ryoga responded.

"Very well then. We are in the City of the Kinshi Mori. This city is entirely populated by those who have the qualities needed to be a practitioner of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Most of the people who normally populate this city are on Simushir Island up North in the Okhotsk Sea. As you can tell, not everyone left to see the event." Happosai said as he gestured over to Severin who was staring at Ranma, and her strange way of 'eating.' "But as you can see, much of the population close up shop to go see the event. They should start trickling through the gates in a few on Friday."

Happosai stopped to take a sip from his glogg. "For a country in the vodka belt, the Swedish sure know how to make good mulled wine." He complimented.

"Your praise is much appreciate, Grandmaster." Severin gave a slight bow, before taking Happosai's empty plates to the kitchen.

Watching as sturdy looking man left the room. "How much did ya pay him? I don't believe second anyone'd show you respect without you threatening them." Ranma asked.

"As Grandmaster of anything goes, I also have the title of sovereign. That includes the respect the position warrants. Sadly, most people only call me 'Grandmaster' or 'Happosai-sama.' You, Ranma, may call me 'Your Lord and Master,' or 'Big Daddy' which ever one you prefer." He said with gleam in his eye.

"Not even in your **dreams** , ya old freak!"

"Alright alright, don't get so worked up, Ranma. Stress will wrinkle that pretty face of yours, and nobody wants that." Happosai warned.

She scoffed and said, "as if I'd care 'bout somethin that."

"Pfff," Ryoga sounded when he heard what Ranma said. "You're always wearing that purple eye makeup and pink lipstick when you're a girl. You're even more vain as a girl than a guy."

"The eyeliner has been a part of the curse since the beginning, and my lips are naturally this color." Ranma set Ryoga straight about her cursed prettification. "It's one of the first things I had to get used to about the curse. 'Sides, if I gotta be girl from time to time. I'd rather be an attractive one."

"And you wonder why Kuno's been chasing you…"

"This is a fine conversation we're having, but I think we should get back on topic. I have some business back in Nerima that cannot wait." Interrupted Happosai.

' _Panty raid,'_ Ranma and Ryoga thought as they rolled their eyes.

Growing serious, the aged master continued to answer their questions. "Now, the reason why I never told either of you about this place is because…I didn't want to." Ranma and Ryoga nearly fell out of their chairs at such a lame answer.

"What do you mean, 'you didn't want to!?' There is no way that's the only reason!" Ryoga yelled.

Taking another bite of pickled herring, Happosai said. "Of course, there are other reasons for why I never told you about this place."

"Why wont you just tell us?" Asked Ranma.

"Because if I did, I know you." He pointed at the boy-turned-girl. "Will find a way to screw it up without even trying. It's best that I keep both of you in the dark." Happosai said. A tick mark grew on Ranma forehead when the old man said that she would screw something up.

"If Ranma's the problem, why can't you tell me?"

"because, when that boy is curious, he'll go above and beyond to get the answer. Even at the expense of his dignity." Replied Happosai

"Hey!"

Ryoga grew a smile and teased Ranma with one of her old ruses. "The old man isn't wrong, Yoiko."

Happosai's eyebrows raised at that. "Yoiko? Is there something-" He was cut off.

"It's Nothing! Just answer the rest of the questions. You said you had to go on your panty raids or something."

"I said no such thing, but thank you for bring us back on topic, Yoiko." Happosai ignored the cry of, 'don't call me that,' as he went back to answering the last few questions. "The reason for why I lead you here now instead of earlier, or at some other time, is tied into why I never mentioned it before. That leaves the arena, your house, and your curses, yes?"

Ranma and Ryoga nodded in confirmation.

"The arena in the town square is where prominent fighters go to prove that they are worthy to be considered for mastery of anything goes. Most of the time, the arena will lay dormant until at least two powerful fighters step foot on it. Once used, the arena will 'recharge' with the ambient Ki produced by the towns people. Since everyone was away, I had to recharge it myself so they you two could fight on it."

"Oh uh, thanks," came Ranma.

Happosai waved of the gratitude. "No, believe me, the pleasure was all mine. Now the reason why I gave you the house. Because, I deemed you two worthy of the title Masters of **Anything Goes Martial Arts**. Every master of our art earns one of those houses, but don't get too comfy. This city values merit above all else. If you do not train to maintain your skills, you will lose the house to someone more deserving. Now, as a Master, you have a discount on all goods and services within every one of the twelve cities of our practitioners reside in."

Ranma was baffled it the mention of eleven more cities just like this one. "Wait, there are twelve cities? How'd you manage to hide twelve entire cities."

"Who said I was hiding them? Nearly half of them have waivers with maps that lead directly to where they are. This is the only city without any hints to it whereabouts. Besides some unique circumstances, most people have to be led here."

"How haven't I heard about this before?" Ranma ask in genuine surprise. Considering she is pretty much a living magnet for crazy martial artists. It was a fairly reasonable question.

"The waivers are not only rare, but most countries this far east don't permit them. As far as I'm aware of, only the Australia, the Americas, and European countries have them openly. Now about your curses."

Both of the teens leaned in to pay even more attention to what Happosai was about to say.

"Skipping past the long history of these cities. Basically, most curses, hexes, spells, or any unstable magics are not allowed on these grounds. There are a few, very, rare exceptions, and Jusenkyo curses are not among the exceptions. When you two cross the torii at the southern gate. Your Jusenkyo curses should have been ripped from your bodies, painfully. Once the curses are removed from your body, they are deconstructed down to their base components leaving nothing more than pure mana. This mana is then used to heal their former victim's bodies, to an extent. I'm sure you noticed the old wounds, scars, and calluses your bodies gone?"

"Yeah, but what about scarface over there? Wasn't the mana supposed to heal that too?" Ranma said as she pointed her thumb at Ryoga.

"Scarface?" Ryoga questioned.

"That is one of two reasons why I said, 'to an extent.' The Jusenkyo curse, and what ever other magic he was exposed to, was clearly not enough to heal everything." Explained Happosai

"Seriously! Is there something wrong with my face!?"

"You wanna list?" Ranma teased.

"That's i-!" Before Ryoga lash out at Ranma for her jest, Happosai held him in place using nothing but his kiseru pipe. The aged master did not even to have trouble hold back the fanged boy.

"Hold on, boy. At least wait until Ranma's male again before you thrash him." He commented.

"Uh, that's one of the main things I wanted to talk to you about. Something went wrong now I'm stuck like this." Ranma informed.

"Really?" Happosai questioned.

Ranma saw that the old geezer was making a stupid grin while his eyes had become glazy. Knowing full well what the pervert was thinking, the boy-stuck-as-a-girl smacked him upside the head. "Cut it out. Do you know how to fix this or not?"

Rubbing his smarted cheek, Happosai asked, "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes, and I'd be more than happy to do it again if you don't start talking." Ranma threatened.

"Is that a promise?" Happosai asked in a playful tone.

"Ugh!" Ranma sounded in disgust. "Ryoga, a little help here?" She asked.

"No, no, I think you got it handled yourself." Ryoga said with a smile, enjoying Ranma's discomfort. If he could not knock Ranma around, he could settle for watch her squirm.

Ryoga was against Happosai's lechery. Like most people, he considers the old man to be hardly more than a disgusting little gnome. A highly skilled and dangerous gnome, but a gnome none the less. The fanged boy decided that he would butt in if things became physical.

"Jerk." Ranma insulted him for not immediately helping her.

Ryoga decided that he would wait a few seconds before stepping in to a physical confrontation. So as to better access the situation…

"Bahaha, I'm just messing with you." _'For now.'_ "As for why you're still cursed? I have no idea. You should have been cured last night. Why, I even heard the magic being torn from your bodies."

"Wait, you where there last night? What happened? Everything's kind of fuzzy." Ryoga asked

"Yes, I was there. I suspect it would be the same thing that happens to all those who have magic ripped from their body. The magics that were currently active, as well as the residual mana from past magics that no longer effect you, but still left an imprint, were torn from your bodies and taken apart as the seams."

Ranma picked on something off about what Happosai said. "What do you mean by 'suspect?' I though you said you were there."

"I couldn't stand the idea of watching my poor Ranma-chan be destroyed like that. So, I stayed inside the gate house until the screaming stopped."

"Screaming?" Ranma asked in a questioning tone.

"Of course there would be screaming, howling, crying, wailing and a quite a few choked curses. Having your body purged of magic is among the most painful things a human can go through. The event is so traumatizing that your brain may force you to forget just to maintain your sanity."

"Well something clearly went wrong." She deadpanned

"And I happy it did! I don't know what I would have done without my precious Ranma-chan to hold me close when I have nowhere else to go."

"I ain't your precious anything!" Happosai's constant harassment was really grating on her nerves. She was having trouble finishing her fourth plate of food.

Ryoga ask. "Is there anything else we should know?"

"To say 'yes' would be an understatement, but that is all the time I have for tonight." Happosai said as he got up from the table. "I will speak to you two again in four days about your inauguration into the Hall of Masters."

"Waitwaitwait what?! Hall of Masters? Inauguration? How much haven't told us?"

"Hehehe, Quite a bit." That was the last thing Happosai said before taking a pull from his kiseru pipe and blowing a massive smoke cloud. The cloud continuously grew until it obscured the entirety of the table.

* **Cough Cough***

Ranma and Ryoga waved away the smoke to reveal that Happosai was long gone. The only thing left was an empty plate of food and a note with excruciatingly horrible handwriting.

Ryoga, being closer, picked up the note and read it out loud.

"Congratulations on becoming Masters of Anything Goes Martial Arts. As much as I enjoy playing around with you two. I can not ignore the progress you two have made to become prominent martial artist. You two have officially become the youngest to be granted the title of Masters of Anything Goes, this generation. Yes, there have been younger, but they're usually killed in under a week in formal challenges. With that knowledge I have a single task for each of you that will help you both survive the first week.

Ryoga, since you're most likely reading this note first, your task to gain better control over your strength and Ki. Enough to interact with civilization without destroying portions of it by mistake. This will also cause you to waste less Ki outside of fights and spars.

Ranma, the task I have for you is very simple. Learn to fight and defend against multiple opponents at the same time. I have seen that you have the speed, precision and situational awareness to do so, but you seem to easily be overwhelmed by just two decent fighters. See that this is remedied before it's too late.

Remember, you two are unknowns to the people of this city. Use that to your advantage. Once they learn of your titles, you two will undoubtably be challenged for it. Especially by those who recently lost the tournament. Be prepared to defend your very life in this city. Though it is frowned upon by the majority, formal challenges of mortal combat are allowed against Masters. Even me.

Just try to avoid any unnecessary conflict and you should be alright.

Sincerely: Grandmaster Happosai

P.S. Ranma, I am honored to add your panties to my collection. You have fine tas-"

"You can stop reading now!" Ranma screeched as she snatched the letter away from Ryoga to keep him from reading anymore. She silently read the rest of the note to herself. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She knew Happosai was fast, but he has never shown to be fast enough to take her underwear without notice. Just to make sure, she gave her breast an experimental squeeze to check for the sarashi her tank top turned into.

"THAT FREAK!"

Ryoga could not help but chuckle at Ranma's misfortune. "Look on the bright side, Ranma. We won't see him again until Friday. Come on let's finish eating and head back to the apartment."

Putting a lid on her justified rage, but still steamed at being forced to go commando, Ranma agreed to Ryoga's proposition with a nod.

Ryoga looked down at his empty plate. "What happened to my food?" He looked up to see if Ranma had an answer. Too bad she was already up to get her 5th plate of food.

When she got to the buffet counter there was no food left. She did see Severin struggle to read a terribly written note.

Severin spoke when he noticed the redheaded girl come back to the buffet counter. "Sorry, buffet closed. Grandmaster took all food before left. Will open on Friday for after tournament celebration." He gave a broad smile. "Should be quite big party."

Initially disheartened that the little freak also stole the food. The party sounded like a good time. Ranma knew she was a big eater, but great appetite was surprising, even to her.

"Guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then." As Ranma turned to leave

" **Ahem,** food not free. Accord to note by Grandmaster, you pay."

"…What…"

"Grandmaster said you pay for all food."

"Hold on for just one sec." Ranma said with a nervous smile. "Ryoga!" She called. "Can you come over here for a minute?"

Ryoga made his way over to where Ranma and Severin were. "What is it?"

"It's about the bill…for **all** of the food." Ranma said while gesturing to the empty buffet counter.

His eyes widened at what that meant. "How much do we owe?" Ryoga asked nervously.

Severin handed him the bill. The very, Very long bill…

Ranma and Ryoga looked over the bill until they got to the amount owed. Their eyes nearly shot out of their skulls when they saw how much debt Happosai thrusted upon them.

"We don't have this kinda money." Ranma told him.

"Do not worry. It says in note they you will be ok with being waitress. You work off debt that way."

Ranma knew a few things about being a waitress, so she was in familiar territory here. But she was not so sure how Ryoga could be a waiter. _'Might as well foot the bill, not like Ryoga got to eat much anyway.'_ "You gotta deal, but don't think Ryoga's going to be much help."

This earned her a glare from Ryoga, who knew what she meant by that. Knowing she was right, Ryoga bit his tongue.

"Note only mentions you anyway. As long bill is paid, does not matter. So, we have deal?"

"Sure thing…" Ranma realized that all the debt was thrusted upon her shoulders, and not split between her and Ryoga.

"All right then." The large man made his way into the back room. After a minute, he returned with what appeared to be a conservative cross between a German dirndl and Sweden's national dress.

"Here you go." Severin said as he handed Ranma the costume.

"Thanks." Ranma said. Looking it over she figured it was not be the worst thing she had to wear.

The two martial artists left the restaurant to head back to the building they are staying at. The walk to the house from the restaurant was be much shorter now that they actually knew where they were going. The way both of the martial artists could not help but think Happosai's advice.

Ranma had a few ideas on how to get better at fighting multiple people at once. All she needed were a few beehives, wolves, and/or few nosey rivals. She already had one.

Ryoga was having a tougher time figuring out how to gain better control over his body. He would have asked Ranma for advice, but he was not that desperate, yet. He figured meditation would help.

When they made it back to the house, the two went upstairs to their respective rooms to get ready to go bed. The events of that day took a lot out of them. Both mentally and physically.

Inside the master suite, Ranma was deep in dreamless slumber. Before going to bed, she had tried to change into her normal boxers and tank top, but they had transformed into white sarashi chest wraps and blue lined, yellow silk tanga panties. Carbon copies of what Happosai stole at the Buffet. This reminder of the curse did not help to settle her mind.

Hours later at about 1:00 A.M. Ranma's body changed.

Bright red hair turned back into raven black. Soft pale skin tanned slightly as if kissed by the sun. Her large breasts and flat stomach changed into hardened pecs and abs. The chest wraps changed back into a tank top. It was different from the one he had originally in that it hugged his torso, outlining his lean muscled physique. The Brazilian style panties changed back into boxers. Like the tank top, Ranma's boxers were also changed into a form fitting version of themselves.

Ranma was male once more.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

Walking along a dirt road, Musu made his way into a small town. His long black hair was dirtied with mud, twigs and leaves. The secondhand clothes he 'borrowed' hid the branded chains and shackles on his body. The half-blind man guessed that he was somewhere in the Tochigi Prefecture. It was difficult to tell with his terrible eyesight, having lost his glasses defending himself against hungry hamlet people.

Making his way down the street, he came to a 24/7 konbini store. The hidden weapon master did not like what he was about to do, but he was too hungry to really care at the moment. So, he made his way inside the store.

Inside the konbini, was cashier was a young man, most likely in his early twenties. According to his identification tag, his name was Maru. He was keeping an eye on the bum that walked into his store. There was just something about him that he did not like.

Musu started looking around for something smoothie like. Due to his broken jaw, he would have a tough time eating anything else.

' _Just hurry up and leave already.'_ Maru the cashier thought when he saw the bum got straight for the food.

The hidden weapon master perused the isles as if looking for the specific food he needed. Pausing when he saw some basic medical supplies, Musu steadily pick them up, inspected them, and put them back.

Maru was steadily growing more and more disgusted with the trash that had the audacity to dirty up the products the was to sell.

Musu continued to look around the store as the hateful eyes bore into him. Once he was satisfied that saw everything he wanted, he left the store.

Maru was seeing red. He has never hated someone so much before. He knew if that bastard came anywhere near him, he would…

The violent thoughts that flooded his mind were no more. When he looked around the bum had already left the store.

Shrugging his shoulders, Maru went back to watching the late-night news. Something about a freak lightning storm that hit Nerima's Shakujii Park.

Outside, Musu concluded what he knew about his curse. It seems to work faster on people who already view him negatively, don't know him, and that the effects will decline the further away he becomes.

The exiled boy headed North on his way out of town. North being the last direction he saw Ranma leave. The ex-Amazon knew that if anyone could/would help him in his time of need, it would be Ranma. He also knew that it took a lot to get Ranma to truly angry.

Making his way to into the forest, Musu opened his hidden weapons space to take out the food and medical supplies. He needed food, rest and medical attention, but he had no time for rest. Because of his refusal to obey Cologne's dishonorable order, his family must suffer.

Musu sat with his back against a large tree. Placing both of his thumbs in his mouth, he set to force his jaw back into its rightful position. It was a slow, painful, process, but eventually he popped his jaw back.

Feeling that he wasted enough time, Musu continued on his mission, to look for Saotome Ranma.

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Alright, That's the end of chapter 2.

Feel free to ask question if you have any.

Chapter 3 is underway.


	3. Revelations

Sorry chapter 3 took so long. I never expected it to take this much time.

In this chapter Ranma and Ryoga will begin to work on some of the faults in their respective fighting styles pointed out by Happosai in the last chapter. It will not be easy for either of them. Ryoga may be a quick study to be able to keep up with Ranma. Without clear guidance, completing his current task may be troublesome. Ranma may be undeniably adaptive as well as a quick learner, but he will have his own problems to triumph over.

Tatewaki's stubbornness has resulted in some unforeseen events. Be it good, or bad, only time will tell.

Musu's search for Ranma will continue, but where will the ex-Amazon end up? Without his glasses, his sense of direction is almost as bad as Ryoga's, and that Jusenkyo curse of his wont help either.

"Talking"

 _'_ _Thinking/_ quoting _'_

 **Emphasis/** **Techniques**

Foreign Languages (This will always be done to languages foreign to the current setting)

'Song/book titles/foods'

Ranma ½ characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

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 **Odyssey of the Four Artists**

Sunrays broke throw the curtains of a spacious second story bedroom. Having been recently moved into, the room was still sparse of much furniture. The only fitments in the master sized room were two nightstands and a king-sized bed, which was currently in use.

At around the 6:00 A.M., the person occupying the bed began to stir.

An older raven-haired boy, no older than 17, blearily got out from under the covers, and made his way to the bathroom.

Turning the water faucet to cold, he cupped some of the cool water into his hands and splashed his face. The warm water cleared away the morning haze along with the sleep stuck to the edges of his eyes.

When the fog that clouded his mind, and the sandman's sand in his eyes, cleared away, the young man got a good look at himself in the mirror.

The young man could hardly keep his jaw up when he looked in the mirror. He clearly remembered going to bed stuck in his female form. Examining himself in front of the mirror, he confirmed it. Ranma Saotome was male again!

"Yes!" He exclaimed. He did not care why, or how, just that he had his own body back. Not that his female form was not his body too. It is just that he felt more at home as a guy.

Looking himself over in the mirror some more, he noticed that his clothes were also different from how they originally were. While they were back to the being the tank top and boxers he originally tried to put on. They were fitted differently. Almost as if they were custom made for his body, similar to all the clothes he tried on yesterday when he was stuck as a girl.

Ranma was many things, but unobservant was not one of them. He guessed that the clothes change based on which form he was in. It was a sound theory, and there was no reason to think otherwise that he was aware of. This conclusion led him to wonder what would happen to his girly clothes if he tried to wear them now.

If the feminine clothes he had were not so small, he might have actually tested this.

Deciding he needed to meditate on his curse for a bit, Ranma made his way down stairs to do some morning katas. He had no clue what was up with his curse, but he was content to know that it was not locked.

When he made it to the living room, the ponytailed boy fell into his 'basic' warm up katas. This consisted of a random mix of every martial arts style he knew. From the first Jujutsu kata he learned to the one he made after mastering Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. His body simply went with the flow.

To a beginner it may have appeared to be too extreme to be a warm up, but Ranma had been trained in martial arts since before he could even walk. With the hundreds of katas he knew, came thousands of individual steps. All of which were ingrained into his very body. At this point, he would have to force himself to make a mistake.

Upon his father's instruction, Ranma has been doing his warmup katas every day for years. It had become second nature to him, like breathing. These katas were an integral part of his very being, so much so, that he did not notice as his body switching back and from male to female. In his mind, Ranma was focused on the problem he was having with his curse. He had yet to find out what triggers the change now that water no longer affected him.

By the time he finished his warm up, he was fully awake and ready for something a little more complicated.

Happosai told him that he needed to work on his ability to fend off multiple opponents. He knew that the best way to fend off multiple opponents was to stay mobile, force them to disperse and manipulate their movements so their numbers work against them. Against weaker opponents in moderately sized groups this was child's play. Against people who were, at least, as fast as him, could operate as a cohesive unit, and/or where just too skilled/powerful, he knew he would be at a disadvantage.

So, he primarily combined fighting styles that use lots of speed, mobility and reach. For defense, he could work on and incorporate his new **Shubiteki Cōnterfire** technique to deflect attacks. Speed and mobility would not be a problem, they were things he was already good at. Reach would be a problem without any weapons, so lunging attacks would have to do.

He was able to stitch together...something. It was rough and needed a serious amount of refinement. This would definitely keep him busy for a few days.

Upstairs, in the hallway bathroom, Ryoga Hibiki was looking over the scar on his face. In his opinion, it was not disfiguring by any means. He would even agree with Ranma. It did add some character. He only wished he got it under less…pathetic circumstances. Finished in the bathroom, he went back to his room to get started get his meditation training started.

He did not have any of the normal meditation supplies, so he had to improvised. Using some of his travel gear as stand in to try and replicate the effects of what he was missing. When he finished pulling things together, bandanaed boy had mortar and pestle bowl, a portable gas stove, and a few old pocky sticks he found in his backpack. He figured it was close enough.

Sitting in a meditative pose, he began to concentrated on his internal energies. This would be the first time he has actually tried to meditate. He never saw the appeal in it, but if Happosai was right, he could fight for longer periods of time. Not accidently causing property damage wherever he went was just the icing on the cake.

Being as good a martial artist as he is, Ryoga was able to get a feel for his Ki fairly quickly. When he tried to gently manipulate his internal energies, it was like trying to push a solid metal cube up hill. He could do it, but it was as very slow process.

This was a direct contrast to Ranma's smooth, almost fluid manipulation of his own Ki. Ryoga was used to a more brute force approach to get his Ki to do what he wanted.

By using his anger and depression as a battering ram to break through the skill barrier between him and Ranma. A skill barrier that is a result of having no dedicated martial arts master to teach him. This outcome made his Ki hit even harder then it normally would. All at the cost of being highly inefficient and volatile.

But this is what allowed him to close the gap in skill between himself and Ranma.

Taking in a deep breath, Ryoga cleared his mind of all thought. He did not know how long it would take before this meditation stuff worked. He guessed that since Happosai made Friday their deadline, it would not take too long.

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 **11:00 A.M.**

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Down stairs in the spacious living room a blur was bounding around the living room. There was no pattern that could have been discerned, the movement was purely erratic. The blur in question would have not wanted it in any other way.

The movements of the blur slowed down to reveal Ranma. His hair was tied back into the ponytail he has been sporting for two days, similar to the one he wore before the dragon whisker curse.

He had worked nonstop on ironing out the kinks in this new combat style for nearly 5 hours. From head to toe, his body was drenched in sweat. Aside from the shockingly minimal amount of progress he made, the strangest thing he noticed, was that his body was not giving off any strong odor. Instead of the stench of sweat, he smelled honey-like. It was an aroma that reminded him of the time he and his father 'borrowed' From an orchard when he was 8.

He did not know whether to chock it up to the change in his curse, or the Swedish food he ate yesterday. Either way, he did not mind, and actually like the smell.

Bringing his mind back to why he was sweating in the first place, his new style. The style itself, for all its apparent randomness, was designed to be module. The most dangerous thing in combat was the unknown. If he could constantly reconfigure this technique, it would take nothing short of a group of mind-reading fighters to accurately predict his movements.

If his opponents could not predict his movements, then they would be more cautious about closing the distance. Quick attacks aimed more to stun, push, and/or discombobulate than to deal damage so as to break up any cohesion the group may have. High mobility to keep himself from being boxed in, and explosive attacks for those that present themselves as a viable target.

In theory it was a decent idea, but in practice…

The odd mixture of so many different fighting styles made it difficult to come up with a smooth kata that he could practice with. The movements were botchy in more places than he would care to admit. Some of the move sets were awkwardly stitched together. He was not even able to let his body go on autopilot while he trained. Developing this style required too much of his attention for such a luxury. It would be sometime before he developed any muscle memory for this.

Stopping to take a break, he went to the kitchen to drink some more water. being in the kitchen, he noticed that he completely skipped breakfast, again. His stomach loudly made it clear how it felt about being ignored.

Knowing that there was no food in the kitchen, he went upstairs to look for his perpetually prepared housemate. Ryoga always had food in that travel pack of his.

Ranma slid open the door to his rival's room and asked, "hey Ryoga! Mind if I—"

"WHAT IS IT!" Ryoga snapped.

Hours of progress ruined by that man-girl bastard, causally breaking his concentration. The metaphorical metal cube he had been pushing for the past **5 hours** was now back down at the bottom of the metaphorical hill.

The fanged fighter's anger was so great at this point, that it had blinded him to the fact that Ranma was a guy again. Something that would have normally been easy to notice.

"Uh Sorry, I was hoping you'd have some food in your pack." Ranma said as noncombative as he could. He was in no state to fight off an enraged Ryoga right now. "It's almost lunch."

Ryoga would have indeed launched himself at Ranma, but his legs had fallen asleep hours ago, rendering him temporarily immobile. Clenching his eyes shut and balling his fists, he tried to calm himself down. If he could not attack, he was left with one option. Calming down.

After taking a few deep breaths over the course of a minute, he was calm enough to be reasoned with. Far from A-Okay, but okay enough to know that he was not going rip someone's head off.

Without looking up, he waved over to his travel pack in the corner. "Over there, take what you want."

Ranma made his way over to the pack. While picking up a few cans of food, he asked, "So what did I do to piss you off this time?"

Speaking as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Ryoga looked up to tell him. "Y-You're a guy!?" He finally noticed that Ranma was back to being a male again.

With a shrug, he answered, "yeah." But, to keep the discussion on the main topic, Ranma asked, "now, what's the **real** reason for why you're mad at me."

Ryoga brushed away the confusion spawned from Ranma's sudden change from being stuck as a girl. "I was in the middle of my meditation training, and you just ruined all the progress I made by barging in here!"

Having read the note that Happosai left, Ranma knew that Ryoga was tasked with gaining better control over his strength and Ki. He knew plenty of meditation and strength training techniques from his training trip. But, most of those techniques either did not work for him, or required obscene amounts of time and concentration to make any advancements. In the true fashion of Anything Goes Martial Arts, he had developed unique mediation methods that would work for himself.

The first was to meditate while doing a headstand. It is quite childish in its simplicity, but sometimes it is the simple things that work the best. The position allowed Ranma to work on his balance, strengthen his neck and spine, better his posture and helped him think more clearly.

The second was a form of movement meditation. By practicing katas he had mastered and had developed muscle memory for. While his body was on auto pilot, the increased blood flow increased his brain's function temporarily by getting the blood flowing.

When it came to controlling his strength, Ranma rarely ever had any problem doing so. The control over his body scaled with his strength and skill. The few times he did lose control over his strength were caused emotional instability and/or exterior sources.

As much as he regarded himself as the best martial artist of his generation, he knew that something that worked for him would not work for everyone else. A core aspect of **Anything Goes Martial Arts** was to create a style that fits your own body and personality the best. Like all other forms of art, mastery of martial arts is not 'one-size-fits-all.'

Between the two of them, he knew that Ryoga had the toughest task. He knew, first hand, how dangerous an angry Ryoga Hibiki was, and the only reason why he survived a happy Ryoga Hibiki, was because of her toughened body. It did not matter which extreme his rival was in, on the emotional spectrum. Ryoga was undoubtedly dangerous at any and all of them.

So, it all comes back to meditation. Once Ryoga comes up with a few ways to meditate, he should be less of an unintentional danger to…everything.

Having collected the canned goods that looked good to him, Ranma gave Ryoga some advice before heading off to the kitchen.

"Try practicing a few more meditations. You'll find a few that click. After that, you'll able to come up with your own style. Controlling your strength on the other hand? Just practice **not** crushing everything you touch." Before sliding the door shut, he gave his thank for the food.

Ryoga listened to the tips Ranma gave him, but there was one problem. He did not know how to do any other meditation techniques. He heard that there were six ways to meditate, but he only knew how to do one. As long as Ranma was willing to help him out some more, it would not be too much of a problem.

As he tried to stand up to follow his housemate downstairs, his legs gave out causing him to fall unceremoniously, on top of the gas stove.

Downstairs, Ranma was in the process of opening a can of 'Mini Vienna Sausages.' His morning practice had already been done. He could focus on what was going on with his curse. Only pausing when he heard a dull explosive sound come from upstairs.

 **POOMB!**

"Hmm?" Ranma vocalized, but shrugged it off figuring that Ryoga just took his advice to heart.

Getting back to thinking about his curse. _'So something went wrong with my curse's removal? Doesn't explain all the other stuff that going on with it. Like what it's doing to my clothes.'_ Looking down at his current apparel. "Least it's a two-way street." He commented on his altered male underwear.

 _'_ _The old ghoul probably knows what's going on with it.'_ He reasoned with himself, albite with an annoyed grimace.

The Amazons were an iffy group to deal with. Generally speaking, they were a decent bunch overall. But it was their archaic laws and willingness to use magic on him did not sit well.

Shampoo, constantly clinging onto him like he was some sort of lodestone. Ranma would be lying if he said he did not find the buxom Amazonian attractive, at least physically. In his opinion, she would have been even more attractive without all of her magical subversions, **The Kiss of Death** and her Jusenkyo Curse that turned her into a demonic entity from the nth levels of hell. Also known as a cat.

Her skill in martial arts easily made her the best female martial artist of their generation. Of course, that would be, only, if you do not include Ranma and Herb.

With Shampoo, came Musu, the half blind hidden weapon master. His deep infatuation with the bubbly, purple haired, girl could drive him to do anything if it meant her approval. Which usually meant doing anything she told him to do with a side of trying to beat/humiliate some guy with a Chinese apparel and a pigtail…

Even though Shampoo is considered the best of her generation back in China. Ranma would honestly say that Mousse was a much greater threat in a straight up fight. Even with terrible eyesight, he is an excellent marksman, and the mastery he holds over all of his weapons warrants some respect. If it was not for **The Kiss of Marriage** , they probably would have gotten along.

Then there was Cologne, or the Old Ghoul according to a few of the males from Nerima. She has a wealth of knowledge regarding martial arts, magic, and ancient Chinese mythology. The only person who even has an idea of how powerful and knowledgeable she was, is Happosai. Everyone else was left to speculate. The fact that she had as much lived experience as the Grandmaster of Anything Goes, was enough for most people to avoid angering her. That did not stop Ranma, nor Musu, from openly showing her disrespect when she annoyed them. Ranma knew her knowledge of magic could help him understand what had happened to his curse. He just hoped that the old bat would not try to take him back to Joketsuzoku to be Shampoo's husband. Asking Cologne for any information was a gamble. But something was seriously off with his curse, and she was the most knowledgeable person he knew.

The only other option was to call in his favor with Herb, Dragon Prince of the Musk Dynasty, a fellow Nannīchuan Curse victim. The only problem was that as favor from Herb is valuable, and there was no guarantee that he would know anything.

Ranma came to a decision on what he was going to do just as lunch had finished cooking. As he plating the food, he smelled something burned. Knowing it was not the food he cooked, he turned to see what it was. He was met with his a blackened and charred Ryoga Hibiki.

Physically speaking, Ryoga was fine. Hibiki's are naturally tougher than most normal people, most normal people thought. Their natural durability does not extend to their apparel though. As evident by the state Ryoga's clothes were in.

"So, how's the meditation going?"

Not knowing that the ponytailed boy was not facetious, he glared at the boy for his comment. He was having a shitty day, and he did not need some brazen chucklehead mocking him right now. He spent a good 20 minutes putting out the fire in his room. A good portion of his stuff was destroyed in the process.

"That bad, huh? Don't worry, you'll get it down, eventually." Motioning the burnt boy to come to the counter. "Here, food's done."

That was not the response was not what the charred teen was expecting. He expected some wisecracking, or at a very minimum, a little bit of ribbing because of his smoldering appearance. Instead, he was just offered some food.

Taking one of the stools at the counter Ryoga joined his housemate. They ate silence for a number of moments. That was until Ryoga began speak about his meditative problem. "Ranma, I was wondering about something you said earlier."

"Yeah?" He said in between bites of tuna.

Not wanting to sound stupid with his lack of knowledge on something so basic. The last thing he wanted to do was give Ranma fuel to make fun of him with.

"So how many meditation techniques do you know?" Ryoga asked.

"Eh, little over six dozen." He responded with a shrug.

"What? I thought there were only six!" Ryoga barked with obvious surprise.

"Nah, there are six **types** of meditations," Ranma clarified. "Pops told me, there are thousands of meditation traditions that branch out from them, but you only need to know a few from each category to get a feel what'll work you."

Knowing that he would not be able to come up with a meditation technique without Ranma's help. Or, at the very least not by Friday. Ryoga swallowed his pride and asked the question. "Do you mind teaching me some?"

"Sure, but I'm heading back to Nerima today. I gotta talk with the old ghoul about my curse."

"Then I'll come with you."

"If you can keep up…Without getting lost." With that said, Ranma quickly finished his food and left to take a bath.

Ryoga was left grounding his teeth together at the insult. Bottling up his anger and frustration, the eternally lost boy begrudgingly finished his food. Once he finished his lunch, he went back upstairs to take a bath and get ready to leave. He just wondered what he would do about clothes. All of his spares were damaged in the fire.

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 **One hour later**

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Ranma and Ryoga had made their way down the path they originally came. They Planned on only being gone for 10-12 hours, a day at the most, so Ranma had neglected his travel pack. Ryoga, having destroyed his own in an accidental fire, was without his normally ever-present backpack.

The fanged fighter was not even wearing his normal clothes either. He ending up having to loan a set from Ranma, much to his own annoyance.

His normal, sun-bleached, yellow tunic was replaced with one of Ranma's white, sleeveless, tangzhuang shirts. Around his waist was the black a black sash that he, and many other martial artists, wore. The dark blue, cotton, trousers were nicely fitted in his opinion, but he would have liked them better with his calf bindings. His tiger striped bandana was the only thing he managed to keep safe from the fire.

Ranma's clothes had also changed. Upon getting dressed, his blue tangzhuang grew more form fitting and elastic. His plain drawstring trousers were almost unchanged, excluding their newly tapered legs. As long as it was functional and comfortable it did not bother him.

"So, about all your girly clothes…" Ryoga queried, think back to what he saw in Ranma's closet.

In a tone meant to kill that conversation. "Disguises, costumes, and gifts. If I wasn't still cursed, they'd be gone. How about we talk about what happened to your stuff?"

"…Point taken."

On the way back to Nerima, the two went over a few styles meditations that might work well for the directionally challenged fighter. Ryoga actually has a similar affinity for the same types of meditation that Ranma practices. That was the easy part. Now, all he had to do was come up with a few meditation techniques of his own. All he knew was, like Ranma's, they required him to be active and/or preform some physical feat that is second nature to him.

This first thing that popped into his mind was getting lost and wandering around, but he immediately shot that idea down. Getting lost was something he felt indignation for above all else.

All in all, he was stumped, until Ranma brought up that Cologne might have some advice that could help him.

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 **Saitama Prefecture**

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So far, the trip back to Nerima had been largely uneventful for them. Though Ranma did have to keep Ryoga from wandering off every now and then...

Based on the position of the sun, they could tell that they were making good time compared to their original trip to Kinshi Mori. It was a little past 3 p.m. When Ranma noted that they were 20 minutes away from Tokyo. They took to the trees to traverse at high speeds seeing no reason to slow down now.

"Are sure you know where your going? I could've sworn we passed that tree 5 times already." Ryoga said, as Ranma gripped onto his arm to keep him from drifting away.

Through gritted teeth. "Yes, I know where we are, and no, that isn't the same tree."

For the past two hours, Ryoga had been trying to give him some advice. The same advice that would have gotten them to Hokkaido, which was in the complete opposite direction they were trying to go. Instead of making fun of Ryoga's directional issues, Ranma kept his mouth shut. There were only so many times that he could poke fun at something before even he got tired of it.

But that did not change the fact that Ryoga's constant challenging of his direction was wearing on his nerves. He was one more comment away from kicking the fanged boy the rest of the way to Nerima.

"Are you sure? Listen, I know a thing or two about getting to Nerima—"

"You are the **last** personsooOH!" Was all Ranma managed to get out before the sudden change in her stature caused her to miss her footing. The unexpected sex-change resulted in her smashing face first into a tree hard enough to shake it down to the roots. Stunned from the impact, the now female martial artists fell to the ground with a hard thud.

It does not matter how well trained your body is. Even the most durable of martial artists can take serious damage when their defenses are down.

Ryoga dropped down from the trees to land next to his, now female, companion. "Ranma, what happened?" From his point of view, Ranma had just suddenly morphed into a girl without warning again. Unlike in the furo, there was no water anywhere nearby.

"I don' wanna go to school, oyagi~" She woozily spoke.

 **Thunk!** "Snap out of it!" Ryoga said, as he smacking her upside the head trying to knock some sense back into the confused girl.

"Whuh?" **Thunk!** "What was th—!" **Thunk!** "Hey!" **Thunk!** "Quit it!" Ranma threw a punch of her own to get him to stop. Striking Ryoga with an uppercut to his jaw. "What the **Hell** was that for!" She yelled.

"You started calling me 'oyagi' after you hit your head, so I just knock you back . I heard that's was fixed your head last time." He said in defense of his actions.

"Thanks for that." Ranma said as she brushed the dirt and leaves from her newly changed clothes. Her blue tangzhuang, changing into a cropped, long-sleeve version of itself revealing her lean, flat stomach. Her cotton trousers tightened to accentuated her toned rear. The only thing that remained mostly the same was her slippers.

"No problem." Ryoga said, waiting for her to finish brushing off. "Any idea on why you changed this time?"

"No idea," She sighed. "Come on, where almost to Tokyo. The faster we get to the Amazons the sooner we'll get our answers."

With that said, they were back on track to Nerima. Just in case of another transformation, they decided to stick to the ground until they made it to the city.

Returning to their fast pace travel, it was not long before they made it to the Nerima Ward. Many of the 'normal' residency who had developed a 6th sense for powerful fighters did notice Ranma and Ryoga's roof-hopping.

The fact that redheads were not very common in Japan also made Ranma-chan stick out like a beacon.

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 **Okotteiru Hamusutā Hospital**

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Word of Ranma's return reach Nabiki Tendo through one of her many informants. This specific new is one she had eagerly been waiting for.

Since Ranma called of the wedding, her little sister, Akane, was devastated. The lively tomboyish girl was initially in denial, brushing it off as Ranma up to another one of his stupid tricks, or something. Until Kasumi tried to let her down gently, that Ranma had indeed called off the engagement, permanently. Even with Kasumi's confirmation, she was still in denial.

As payback, Nabiki freely gave away the address to the new Saotome family home to the Kodachi. Knowing full well that the Kuno's would constantly harass them. Of course, she omitted the fact that it was 'Ranma' who lived there. Instead, she opted to say that it belonged to the redhead that Kodachi hated so much.

The one problem with her vengeful plan was that she forgot the fact that the Kuno's are not known for keeping their mouths shut. Immediately upon being told of where to find her most hated foe, Kodachi immediately boasted about how she would finally rid her darling Ranma of that harlot. Basically, everyone in the general area was able to hear.

Because of that word quickly spread that Nerima's famous/infamous redhead belonged to the family who bought Shakujii Park and built a house in it.

Admittedly, much of the population had yet to put two and two together about the fact that the redheaded girl, was indeed Ranma. Why would they? Many of the people who say they are, live around Furinkan High. Nobody near that school is right in the head.

Admittedly, this was better than even Nabiki hoped. With the news that one of Nerima's most attractive girls comes from wealth, suitors would come out of the woodwork to bug her even further.

But not all that glitters, is gold.

The information eventually reached Ukyo Kuonji, Shampoo and, much to Nabiki's horror, Akane.

Nabiki herself, did not know exactly what happened yesterday. But according to the paramedics and the reporters, there was a large fight between the girls and the household occupants. There was wide reaching defacement to the surrounding forest, and the newly built home had taken major amounts of damage.

Nabiki would have honestly been frustrated with her little sister's brash actions, if not for the fact that Akane was in the hospital for electrical burns.

Sitting in the hospital lobby with her older sister, Kasumi, waiting for the first opportunity to see Akane, Nabiki was plotting. At this point she was not just focused on Ranma anymore. Nobody hurts her baby sister and gets away with it. They were all going to pay.

Like always, she had disregarded any part she played in the events that led to her sister getting hurt. As far as she was concerned, if Ranma had just married Akane, none of this would have happened.

Due to Kasumi's close proximity, she was able to pick up the good news from Nabiki's informant. "Oh my! Ranma-kun is back already? That is so good to hear."

"Yeah sis, I'm happy to hear about it too." Nabiki said with a faux grin.

Kasumi was outwardly oblivious to her sister's motives, but you don't live with someone for eighteen years without getting to know them. Normally, she turned a blind eye to her younger sister's antic. This time was different. Kasumi knew that because Akane was seriously hurt, Nabiki would put all the blame on Ranma. Even if he had nothing to do with it.

She only wished that her sister would not blame Ranma for what happened to Akane. She knew that if Ranma was there, Akane would have never gotten hurt. The fact that they were told that Ranma had just come back to Nerima was proof that he was not there yesterday. But she knew that when Nabiki was set on one of her schemes there was no stopping her.

Kasumi did not know what she would do, but as much as she loved her sister, she was not going to sit idly by and let an innocent person's life and family be ruined.

Speaking of family.

"Nabiki? Do you know where father is? I haven't seen him since he went to washroom."

At that moment the elevator doors opened to reveal Soun Tendo being dragged away by security. The Tendo patriarch was clad in a female nurse's costume. Any makeup he had on was smudged and running because of the tears fountaining from his eyes.

"Please! Let me see by baby girl! I just want make sure she's in good hands!" Cried the Soun Tendo.

The security guards picked up their pace. They wanted nothing to do with this weirdo. The faster they get this 'man' out of the hospital, the sooner they can make appointments to a psychiatrist.

The police who were waiting at the door to take Soun away, were visibly put off by what they were going to have to deal with.

The two sisters sat quietly, staring at the spectacle. They would have called it odd, but ever since they met Ranma, they have become desensitized. Just because they were used to the weird aspects of their lives, does not mean that they wanted to be associated with it.

"…I haven't seen him." Nabiki said as she pick up a magazine.

"Maybe he was called away to deal with another oni…" Kasumi chimed in halfheartedly.

The Tendo sisters worked to forget what had just occurred. No child should watch their father do something so…humiliating.

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 **Outside the Cat Café**

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After hours of travel, Ranma and Ryoga had finally made it to the Cat Café. Only to find that it was closed and for sale. Everything that made the restaurant a unique place to dine, or get advice, was gone. No Chinese style decorations, there was no smell of quality food and the crowds of happily dining patrons were not anywhere to be seen.

Ryoga looked at the barren building. "Are you sure this is the Cat Café?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." The Ranma answered, as she looked through the window. "What happened!? We were only gone for two days!"

A few people walking by heard the young girl's exclamation. One of them, an elderly man who had frequented the restaurant, spoke up. "They closed down just yesterday." He said in a disheartened tone of voice. "I personally believe that it had something to do with the Ministry of Justice. If so, they were probably deported. A shame I tell you. If those officers had a taste of their 'chaashumen,' they'd be too busy asking for more to do their job!"

Not wanting to only bring bad news to what he guessed was a young couple, he threw the strong looking boy a bone.

"I did hear that Café Coconut has a discount on their ice cream because of their eating challenge. It may not be the manliest place to eat, but I often hear about how the young ladies are when it comes to sweets." He said with an eyebrow raised at Ryoga.

The lost boy was oblivious to why the old man was wiggling his eyebrow at him. Ranma, being substantially less socially inept, knew what the old man meant. Even if though he wrong in his assumption, there was no sense in correcting his honest mistake. But she was very interested in the eating contest at her favorite ice cream joint.

Ryoga felt Ranma cling onto his arm. "Huh? Wha-!" Was all he got out before the small girl began running off with him.

"Thank you, ojisan!" She called out to the old man from down the block

The old man smiled and waved toward the 'young couple'. Pausing, as something caught his nose. Smelling the air, he was taken aback by a familiar, and very welcome, scent.

 _'_ _Plum blossoms…'_ He thought.

Continuing on his way, memories, once fogged from age, began to clear up and slideshow through his mind. Every memory associated with the flowery smelling tree flooded his mind. Instead of a normal afternoon walk, he now had a destination. _'You always loved the florist's plum blossom bouquets, Miya-chan~'_ The smile he broadly wore never wavered for a moment. Even as tears streamed down his aged and wrinkled face. The memories of the time he and his late wife spent together will not be tarnished with sorrow.

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 **Dr. Tofu's Clinic**

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Tofu Ono had been up nearly all night because of his current patient, Tatewaki Kuno.

His patient's physical injuries were mostly minor, save for the few that required stitching. All he had to worry about were the stitches popping, and causing his patient to start bleeding out again.

The events that led up to his current position were still fresh in his haggard mind.

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The time was a little past 2:00 A.M. The clinic had closed, and Tofu had already locked up shop and gone to bed. It was around this time that loud banging on his martial-artists-proof front door.

Due to his occupation requiring him being a light sleeper. The tenacious doctor, was already up and on out of his bedroom. People rarely come to him this late without having a decent reason. Bracing himself for what might be on the other side of the door, Dr. Tofu started unlocking the door.

When he opened the door, he was met with a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties to early thirties. Her long hair was caked in dried, bright red paint. Judging by the strong odor of the paint, he suspected it was for interior walls. She wore a blue happi coat on top of her, paint stained nagajuban nightwear. The bed robes she wore were loosened on her body to allow for her more freedom of movement. The festival coat she wore appeared to be oversized for her frame, as if it was design for a portly man.

Dr. Tofu, being as observant as he was quickly noticed the similarities in this woman's facial structure to that of Ranma's. If he would have to guess, the woman before him was Ranma's mother. Due to the bright red paint, Dr. Tofu would have thought that this woman was Ranma in his female form, had it not been for his clinic's exterior lights. This woman was noticeably taller than Ranma's female form, and her eyes were a dull olive green instead of sapphire blue.

What really caught his attention was the young man she had in her arms. He recognized the young man as Tatewaki Kuno, one of the infamous members of the Kuno Family.

saying that the master kendoka appeared to be heavily disheveled was an understatement.

His once tidy brown hair was matted with dirt and debris. Blood was flowing freely from a gash on his forehead. Judging by the fact that his blood was flowing without any signs of slowing down, and that the wound was without any signs of clotting. Dr. Tofu suspected that there was an anticoagulated in the young man's body that kept his injuries from healing naturally.

The young swordfighter's, formerly, white uwagi jacket was heavily ripped and burned on top of being dirtied with mud, blood and debris. The black trousers he wore were riddled with burn holes. The holed pants he had did little to hide the fact that his legs also took damage and were left bleeding.

Based on his professional opinion, if he did not counteract the poison that was not only stopping Tatewaki's body from naturally clotting and increasing his blood flow, Tatewaki would die from blood lose in little less than an hour at this rate.

All while he was assessing the damage to his patient's body, Dr. Tofu was already in motion. By the time he had finished his visual diagnoses, he already had the young man laid down ready for treatment. His movements were swift and precise. Knowing that he had limited amounts of time to work, he wasted no movements.

Cutting the clothes off of the young man, Dr. Tofu was relieved to see that no major arteries had been damaged. Immediately he pressed a number of shiatsu points to force Tatewaki's body to make clots. The only technique he had for clotting was **A-Kurasu Iryō Gijutsu: Kyōsei Ketsueki Gyōko (A-Class Medical Technique: Forced Blood Solidification)** There were two problems with this technique. The first was that it worked slower the more wounds it had to deal with. The second, it will not work for larger wounds that need stitching.

Due to hundreds of bleeding wounds on the young man's body. The time it would take to his blood to clot and the time before Tatewaki dies from his lose of blood would cut very close. All while the larger cuts on his body continued to bleed profusely.

He had to act fast. Dr. Tofu knew that using a detoxification technique now would cause Tatewaki bleed even more than he already was. It was a risk, but if he let the poison remain the boy's blood system it would not matter either way. The only option was cauterization. Something he did not have the proper tools, nor training for.

 **A-Kurasu Iryō Gijutsu: Kyūsokuna Gedoku (A-Class Medical Technique: Rapid Detoxification)** , was the technique he used to purify Tatewaki's blood. As one might suspect, this did indeed increase the rate at which Tatewaki bleed. This reduced the amount of time Dr. Tofu had to work with even further.

In a matter of seconds a blackish yellow liquid began to ooze from the cuts on Tatewaki's body. Dr. Tofu had to guess that this unknown substance was the poison that kept his patient's body from form clots. Even with his vast knowledge in the field of medicine, he was unable to recognize and identify this particular poison.

Dr. Tofu was further surprise to see that the poison was continued to flow for over the course of ten minutes. This was far longer than he wanted his **A-Kurasu Iryō Gijutsu: Kyūsokuna Gedoku** technique to work for. Immediately after the sickly colored liquid had completely drained from his patient, Dr. Tofu used one last pressure point technique. **S** **-** **Kurasu** **Iryō** **Gijutsu:** **Shin** **Teishi (S-Class Medical Technique: Cardiac Arrest)**. This series of shiatsu points was a design to stop a patient's heart for three minutes.

Stopping Tatewaki's heart would buy some more time for the **A-Kurasu Iryō Gijutsu: Kyōsei Ketsueki Gyōko** to finish. Knowing, that his patient did not have enough oxygen in his blood, Dr. Tofu knew he would have to manually restart Tatewaki's heart after only 40 seconds. Before restarting his patient's heart, the bespectacled man cleaned the larger wounds that need stitching.

At 38 seconds, Tatewaki's blood began to flow again, noticeably slower. This happened without Dr. Tofu manually undoing his S-Class technique. Immediately, he checked his patient's heart to see if it was beating again. It was.

He did not have time to contemplate why Tatewaki's heart started up without stimulation. The why of the odd occurrence did not matter right now. Dr. Tofu was able to see that nearly all the wounds had finished clotting.

A few minutes later, he had finished stabilizing his patient, as well as all the stitch and bandaging work.

Tatewaki Kuno would live to swing his sword another day.

After moving Tatewaki to a recovery room, the tired doctor began cleaning up. Tofu could honestly say to himself that, that was the closest he had come to someone under his care actually dying. To be far, his job normally entails fixing back pain and righting joints.

There were still some unanswered questions that were on his mind. Most of them having to do with the napping woman in the sitting area of his clinic.

Now that he himself was cleaned from the earlier surgery, Tofu went to speak with the presumed Mrs. Saotome.

Lightly shaking her shoulder. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

Now awake, the woman stood up and respectfully bowing to the physician. "How is he? Will that he be alright?"

The woman was now cleaned up from when Tofu first saw her. There was no longer any paint in her hair, revealing her true hair color to be a plum purple. He guessed that she must have cleaned herself up while he was attending Tatewaki. The bed robe she wore was also clean of any paint, returning it back to its white color. The oversized coat she had brought with her was wrapped around her like a blanket.

"Yes, Mr. Kuno will be fine. He could use a blood transfusion to speed up his recovery, but other than that he should be fine." Tofu told her the good news.

"That is good to hear." She said, visibly relieved.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions."

"No, not at all."

"Thank you." Tofu nodded his thanks for her compliance. "Do you know what put him in such a state?"

"I'm not exactly sure about everything that happened to him. What I do know is that it had something to do with a group of girls..."

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She proceeded to describe the event from her point of view. As she was a noncombatant, her recollection mostly involved her trying get away from the danger. Her husband had instructed her to leave that area.

The woman then described being hit in the head by a can of red paint, which essentially blinded most of her senses. By the time she stumbled her way to a busted down wall that led outside, she had managed to get the paint out of her eyes.

Making it outside, she began to run to the nearest park entrance. While she ran, she was able to clean out her ears enough to hear that some of the fighting had followed her.

With the amount of lightning and explosions going off behind her, she could have sworn that it was the god Raijin himself after her. But in the pauses between the fighting, she was able to hear two voices yelling back and forth. One belonging to a man, and the other to a woman. She admitted that she did not recognize who the voices belonged to.

What little of their conversation she was able to hear, was of the young man yelling, **"LOOK OUT!"** As the young woman he was fighting threw a medicine ball at her.

Due to her marital status as the wife of a martial artist, she was well accustomed to those words. She threw herself to the ground and let the medicine ball fly over her head. The tree mere meters away from her did not fare so well, as the medicine ball exploded on impact, splintering and felling the once sturdy tree.

Standing up, she started towards the exit again. She heard the fighting continue. The violence and destruction continued to follow her to the park gate. Right as she crossed the gate there was one more clap of thunder followed by a large explosion. After what was most likely a final attack, all was silent.

Until the body of a young man crashed into stone wall next to her.

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"By the sounds of it, you were very fortunate to get out unscathed. But I must ask, why come here? Okotteiru Hamusutā Hospital is right next to the park."

"Yes, but those doctors are not trained in any medical based martial arts. The poisons in Mr. Kuno's body would have killed them before they knew what was wrong."

"Poisons?" He said in surprise. "I thought it was a singular one."

"Sadly no, that violent girl was throwing poisons along with explosives. The poisons must have mixed with the drugs already in his blood."

"That is good to know, but how do you know there were other drugs in his blood?" Dr. Tofu inquired.

"I...have a very good sense of smell. As for why I'm familiar with the smell of blood? It's because many of the men and boys in my life are martial artists. I've had to clean and bandage plenty of wounds over the years."

 _'_ _Above average sense of smell? Odd, but not the oddest thing if I right about who she is.'_ With that, he finally decided to put his mind to rest. "My apologies for not asking this sooner, but you wouldn't happen to be Mrs. Saotome? Would you?"

"Oh, yes. How did you know?" Asked the now identified Nodoka Saotome, matriarch of the Saotome family, loyal wife of Genma Saotome and loving mother of Ranma Saotome.

"You bare a striking resemble to Ranma, he and one his friend were patients of mine two days ago."

Now worried, she asked. "Is he alright?"

"Yes, yes he is fine. Nothing more than a few bumps and bruises that will wear away in a few days." Dr. Tofu reassured the mother.

"You also said that he came here two days ago, right?"

"yes." He answered with a nod.

 _'T_ _he wedding…'_ Nodoka thought to herself. "When he came to you, did he say anything about where he was going? I haven't seen him since that…mistake."

"Sorry, he did not tell me where he was going." Seeing the mother further saddened about the unknown whereabouts or her child, Tofu gave her some good news. "But he should be back to see me in a week. He is currently acting as a caretaker to one of his friends who was temporarily crippled."

"He is such a good boy." She said with pride. "So, who is this friend of his? I haven't heard him mention any of his friends before."

"A Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma told me he regards him as his best friend."

At the mention of that name, Nodoka tensed up. "…How, hurt was he?" She questioned.

"I am sorry, patient confidentiality." Judging by how she reacted to that name, Dr. Tofu could see that she knew who Ryoga was. "I can tell you that he will be perfectly fine in two weeks, and that his is in good hands."

The tension in her body was slightly lessened. "that is…good to hear, thank you." Standing up, she bowed to the doctor again. "I'm sorry, but I must be going."

"Are you sure that you are fine? After what you told me, I find it difficult to believe you made it out unscathed. In my professional opinion, you should get checked out."

"Thank you, but that isn't necessary." She said with another quick bow.

 _'_ _Like mother, like son I supposed.'_ "If that is what you wish, but I—" Dr. Tofu was cut off before he could what he was about to say.

Coming from the recovery room, **"AAAAGGGGHHHH! NO! Nonono! NOOOO!"** The sound of a young man's unceasing screams of pure unfiltered disgust and horror filled the clinic. It was as if he had just experienced his worst fear brought to life.

"I-I must go, but please, get a checkup as soon as possible." Dr. Tofu said as he went to tend to his patient once more. Understandably, he was so focused on Tatewaki's screaming, that he had not noticed that Nodoka had already left.

In the seat she last sat in were ten old coins, payment for Dr. Tofu's services.

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Leaning back in his office chair, Tofu let of a sight. He had just managed to put his patient back to sleep, again. Ever since the first time he put Tatewaki to sleep, the young man has managed to 'break' out of the pressure point's effect. As far as he knew, something like that could only be done if his body was constantly producing excessive amounts of electricity.

After some rudimentary testing, Dr. Tofu found that Tatewaki's body was indeed producing high amounts of electricity. A substantial amount more than he though even possible for most humans. Of course, Tatewaki was a martial artist, they did seem to do what most would consider impossible on a regular basis.

Because of Tatewaki's electrical output, the shiatsu points administered on him are continuously bombarded with stimulation. This stimulation makes them more and more unstable as time goes on. Evenly the shiatsu loses all of its effect at a fraction of the time it would have worn off naturally.

So far, the average amount of time it takes for the sleep shiatsu to stop working in an hour.

He had, at the most, thirteen minutes before Tatewaki wakes up again. That meant thirteen minutes to continue to ponder what it was Nodoka had left him.

On his desk were seven gold coins that Nodoka had left. He could have sworn there were ten when he first picked them up, but once he sat down to look at them, he only had seven coins and three clumps of mulch.

The coins were of a foreign design and they looked to be a few centuries old. One side of the coin, it had a simple cross stamped into it. The other side had a coat of arms. The outer rim of the coat of arms had seven tri-towered castles. In the center, five small shields were arranged in a cross. Tofu did recognize the this crest from when he studied history in school. It was Portuguese.

Finishing his third cup of coffee, Dr. Tofu put the put the coins away in a lockbox and carnations in a nearby vase. Only three minutes left until Tatewaki woke up again.

 **Knock! Knock! Knock!**

Tofu was not expecting anybody to actually come by for treatment today.

"I remember putting a sign up on the door." In the back of his mind, Dr. Tofu briefly recalled, not hang the sign up properly. It was around that time that Tatewaki had woken up for the second time, and drew his focus away.

 **Knock! Knock! Knock!** "Hey Doc! Your door's lock!" Came a familiar feminine voice.

 _'_ _Ranma? I expected him to be back in five days. What could have caused him to come back so soon?'_ Tofu thought as he made his way to unlock the door.

Opening the door, the he was met with the second surprise of the day. Ranma and her, perfectly healthy and human, friend, Ryoga.

Tofu's surprise was visible to the two martial artists. "I really would like to know how this is possible."

Just barely, they were able to hear the sounds of struggle coming from the down the hall.

Ryoga's inexplicably healed wounds nearly made the physician forget about the young man strapped to one of his medical beds. "We will have to discuss this later." Dr. Tofu said as he went to his recovery room.

Out of curiosity, Ranma and Ryoga followed Dr. Tofu.

In the clinic's recovery room, Tatewaki was strapped down to the medical bed. Not just with regular bindings either. Apparently, Dr. Tofu was forced to reinforce the normal limb restraints with ropes and chains at some point.

To those that did not know Dr. Tofu, this might have seemed a bit extreme. Those that did know him, would have been keeping a better eye on the young man strapped down. Some like Tofu rarely did things for no reason.

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Tatewaki, as far as he could tell, he was simply bound to that damnable table to stop him from doing what was right. After everything he had done… everything he tried to do. He realized that there was only one true fate for someone such as him.

For as long as he could remember, the mentally deranged swordsman tried to live by the Bushido Code. Only now was it clear just how much he has dishonored himself.

Akane Tendo, and every person he had wronged over the years, deserved a sincere apology. Only then could he ask forgiveness from the one person he had wronged the most while driven by his madness, Ranma Saotome. He does not expect forgiveness for the things that he had done, but he was firmly determined to express how sorry he truly was.

When he had first awoken, his mind felt much clearer, as if a cloud in his mind had finally been lifted. It was an amazingly pleasant feeling. That was until the memories of his life up until that point smacked upside the head. It was sudden, like someone was forcing him to see all of the horrible things he did.

Tatewaki Kuno finally learned the truth. The-Tree-Born-Kettle-Girl and Ranma Saotome…were the same person.

He did not understand how it was possible that a person could change in such a with just water, or how a fellow man could turn into the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. All that mattered now was that he made his peace.

 _'But first, I must free myself from these infernal bindings!'_ He thought to himself.

He did not know how many times he has tried to break free. He had nearly broken out twice at this point. The bent railing on the medical bed was a clear sign of his progress. The rope and chain were a new addition, but that did not matter to him. He was determined to break free and save whatever honor he had left.

In a hushed voice, so as to not attract the attention of that doctor, "my vitality must have been drained by whatever that man did to grant me my sanity. Without these restraints, my gratitude would be multiplied tenfold. Why must I remain restrained?" he whispered to himself, as he began to struggling against the restraints.

It was not long until his struggling attracted the attention of his doctor.

As Dr. Tofu entered the room, he repeated what he said the previous time Tatewaki woke up. "Mr. Kuno, you need to rest. Too much movement will reopen your wounds and serve to only prolong your stay."

Scoffing at the man's words. "Have I not made myself clear?! My own health is of no importance to me! All that matters is—"

A girl's voice cut him off. "whoa, what happened to you?"

"Pigta—! I mean, Saotome Ranma…I." He paused. "I, have much, oh so much, to apologize for."

Ranma was honestly amazed by Tatewaki's words. For as long as she knew the lovestruck swordsman, his insanity blinded him to her Jusenkyo curse. It never mattered how many times she tried to get it through his thick skull. She thought back to how Nabiki's initial words in 'explaining' her curse really messed things up. "It's about time you figured it out. So, what caused you to finally piece it together?"

"Yes, and your curse still uh…confuses me. Can you…change back? I believe it would be better if we spoke man to man."

"heh, 'bout that…I'm kinda stuck like this for the time being. I'm not exactly sure why my curse is acting like this now, but I should be back to normal, eventually."

"I…see." Tatewaki said. Internally he still found Ranma-chan attractive. Not even the knowledge that this bastion of womanhood before him was actually a cursed man, succeeded in quelling his desire. He could not help but feel deeply sickened with himself. Even with his head finally screwed on right, Tatewaki could not help but fell attracted to the female version of Ranma Saotome.

Burying his feelings deep away in his psyche, he continued to speak. "I pray that it matters not to you, Saotome Ranma, I have wronged you as you are now just as much, if not more. I know that no amount of apologizing will excuse the unforgivable things that I have done. Mere hours ago, I was still that sick, perverted dastard that continued to prey upon you. Only now am I able to full grasp my horrendous actions. A meager apology is not worth much from me, but for what it is worth, I am truly sorry for all the pain and suffering I caused you. My undeserved life is yours to do with what you wish."

"Sure, apology accepted." Ranma said with a thumbs up.

The former madman was shocked, stuttering he questioned. "…W-wh-what?! You accepted my apology so easily? After everything I have done to you, you should despise my very existence."

Shrugging, the redhead responded. "As long as you're actually sorry, I can't really hold a grudge. 'Side, my pop's done worse, and I'm really only annoyed with him."

"B-but all the times I violated, and harassed you, and-and made attempts on your life. I fail to understand how you can forgive me so, so easily."

"If you quit with the whole lovey-dovey stuff, then yeah, I can forgive you."

"My days of seeking your hand are no more, you have my word."

Ryoga could not help but poke some fun. "Since when have you been against getting attention, Ranma? If I didn't know better, I'd say you lived on it."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny, boulder-brains." Ranma insulted, as she palmed her fist in a threatening manner.

The bandanaed boy only gave a fanged smirk, clearly ready to throw drown.

"Please reframe from fighting in my clinic, both of you." Dr. Tofu snubbed the immanent fight that would wreck his clinic.

"Sorry doc./Sorry Mr. Tofu."

"No harm done, but I will have to ask that you two leave this room." Dr. Tofu told them as he ushered them to the door. "Mr. Kuno is still my patient after all. You two can wait for me in the lobby, I will be there shortly. Oh, and would either of you mind locking the front door for me? I was not expecting any other patients today."

"Sure/no problem."

"Thank you"

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 **Seven Minutes Later at Dr. Tofu's Clinic**

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Since being asked to wait in the lobby, the two martial arts masters were spitting barbed words at one another from opposite ends of the front room. Much to their disappointment, insults were the only thing that they throw. For now.

"You've got a face perfect for radio, you know that, Ryoga?"

The fanged boy had to take a moment to figure out if that was insult or not. "…Hey! At least I don't look like I belong at a red-light district!"

"As if you'd know what a red-light district looks like. I bet you'd get a nosebleed and pass out just looking at one." Ranma scoffed.

"And you'd know what one looks like."

"No, but I've seen more than enough naked girls to get an idea."

"I knew it! You are scum! Using your female form to look at innocent girls!"

"I'd never do that! If anything, you where the one who used his curse to get close to girls! Stupid pig-boy!"

That blew the wind out of his sails. The shame on the formerly cursed boy's face was clear as day, but he was not done. "Like you have any right to call me a pig after that eating challenge at the café."

"I have the digestive strength of 100 men because of that noodle the old ghoul trick me with. It's not like I'm going to not used it." Ranma reminded him.

Before Ryoga could return send off another dig, tofu walked into the lobby.

"Thank you for waiting, but I must thank you Ranma."

"Huh? What for?" The aforementioned girl asked.

"Thanks to that conversation you had with Mr. Kuno earlier, he was much more willing to listen to my advice." Nodding his thanks, he continued turned to speak with Ryoga. "So, tell me. How did you heal so fast, Ryoga?"

Ranma and Ryoga spent about 20 minutes telling Tofu what happened since they last met. When they finished telling them the accounts of the past few days, Tofu was having fairly hard time wrapping his head around such a fantastical story. Being a doctor, he was very unfamiliar in the subject of magic.

He knew of its existence, enough to know that it was impossible for most humans to use magic. Sadly, that was the extent of his knowledge on the subject.

"If it were not for your inexplicably healed body, Ryoga, I would have a hard time believing what I was just told." Tofu said to the teens. _'Never a dull moment with these two, is there…'_ He thought.

"You get used to it." Ranma waved nonchalantly.

"I am going to take your word for it." Tofu could not help but smile and shake his head. "Oh, Ranma, I think you would like to know that it was your mother who brought Mr. Kuno here."

"Mom?" Remembering how banged up Tatewaki was, made her worry for her mother's safety. "Is she alright?"

"Yes, when she was here, she told me that it was thanks to Mr. Kuno. Yesterday night, your family home was attacks by a group people. From what I was told, I presume one of the attackers mistook your mother for you, and pursued her. If it were not for Tatewaki's interference, I fear the worst might have happened."

In a no non-sense tone of voice, the master martial artist asked, "who?"

Just the way Ranma asked that question made the hairs on Ryoga's neck rise. There was only one time he felt a sensation similar to this. When Ranma's first kiss was stolen by Mikado Sanzenin of The Golden Pair. Only this was much, much more intense. he could understand why. If someone attacked his own mother, he would crush every bone their body. If he was feeling merciful.

Dr. Tofu, being a high-level martial artist himself, notice Ranma's killing intent immediately. Placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder, he told her, "Your mother was not able to see who her attacker was. When she was here, she appeared to be in perfect health."

When Dr. Tofu put his hand on Ranma's shoulder. The rage she felt dwindled, allowing her to think of something else more important. "Do you know where she is?"

"I am sorry, but she left in a hurry."

"Thanks anyway doc." she sighed

"No thanks is necessary. Is there anything else I can help either of you with?"

They spent some more time at Dr. Tofu's Clinic. Ryoga asked a few quick questions about meditation. He did not learn too much more than what Ranma had already told him earlier. What he did learn was that meditation could be accomplished by doing something you are intimately familiar with.

 _'_ _How the hell am I supposed to meditate while I fight!?'_ Ryoga pondered to himself as he and Ranma started on their way to the latter's newly built/recently attacked family home.

Using Nerima's rooftops, the two fighters would make it to Shakujii Park in no time.

Along the way, Ryoga asked, "do you mind if we head over to my house later? I need to get some of my own clothes and a spare pack." As much as he liked relying one secondhand clothes from his rival, which he did not, he was more comfortable in his own clothes. He almost felt naked without a travel pack too.

"Huh? Yeah sure, whatever." The redheaded girl said as if distracted.

He may be dense at times, but he knew the gender-cursed-pain-in-his-ass better anyone, save for Genma Saotome. "If you want, I'll help you find whoever went after your mom. I'm good at finding what I'm looking for…it just takes a while sometimes."

Giving her best friend/rival a small smile. "Thanks, I mean that."

"No problem."

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Ranma and Ryoga made their way to Shakujii Park in short time. Walking through the entrance of the park, they saw that it was being give the standard Nerima 'Post-Martial Artist Fight' treatment. Foresters and construction crews were already busy repair the famous park.

Upon entering the park, they immediately felt as if they were being observed. Ranma, being the one with the most experience with this particular look, felt as if she were being accused of something, like some type of criminal.

With a few quick glances around the area, they saw that the staring was coming from the foresters.

Their anger was clearly directed at the two people who had entered the park. Going by the fact that they were mostly focusing their resentful gazes on the red-haired girl. Ranma, was the primary target of their bitterness for whatever reason.

Thankfully, none of them made any hostile moves toward the group of two. Aside from some of them a talking under their breath. From the tone of their voices, it was a safe bet that they were not kind words.

Not know what was wrong, the two teens ignored it. People being pissed off at them for some reason or another was nothing new.

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It had been a little while since either of them had been to Shakujii Park. So, the flagstone path that lead through woods was very new to them. Before even seeing much more than the rooftops of a building, they could clearly tell where the lands of the estate began.

A little way into the woods of the ground began to raise into an incline. The park was originally built on primarily flat lands, and an incline such as this would not have been here before. The forest must have been artificially raised, most likely during the construction of the new Saotome Estate.

The woods of Shakujii Park were, even after recent conflict, in mostly perfect health. Even the normally destructive process of constructing a building, let alone a manor of all things, did not harm the vast majority of the surrounding plants life. In fact, the well hydrated plant-life in and around the Saotome Estate is what kept any fires from blazing out of control.

From the road, it was a short walk to a wide set of stairs that cut through a tall terraced retaining wall that appeared to wrap around the top of the hill. Down the stairs from where they were, Ranma and Ryoga were able to see some of the people who were busy repairing the roof.

Up the stairs, and through a smashed open gate, the land flattened out. The landscape that was currently being used by the repair crews as a supply and debris storage.

The manor itself was stylized in the form of a modest flatland castle. No taller than three visible stories, the building stood on top of a story tall stone foundation. The main entrance was blown in by some type of explosive, similar to what happened to the main gate. Extensive damage was done to the walls of this floor, but the construction crews returned the building's structural integrity. On the second story, the walls were dotted with holes, currently being worked on by a few dozen people. The top floor was little more than fresh wooden framing at this point. This floor must have taken a large amount of damage compared to the other two.

While Ranma and Ryoga were making their way up the manor steps, a woman's voice called out to them. "Hey you two! Stop!"

Doing as they were told, the duo stopped in their tracks, they turned to look at the person who was currently making her way up to them.

It was a slim, professional looking woman. Her black hair was either done up or cut short. Neither of them were able to tell, because the white hard hat she wore hid it well. As opposed to the other, more rugged looking, workers, she wore a white dress shirt, grey blazer, and grey suit pants ensemble. Ranma and Ryoga were primarily focused on the daggering look she was giving them.

"Where do you two think you're going!? Can't you see this is an active site!? And without head protect too!" She demanded, stomping her way over to the two teens. _'There's no way I'm letting a couple of kids run around this place. Especially without hard hats!'_

Putting on an innocent girl act, Ranma answered for them. "We were looking for my dear mother. I haven't heard from her, and the doctor doesn't know where she is." A few forced tears fell down her cheeks to sell the image she was going for.

The forewoman's heart was softened slightly by the young girl's response, but she still remained firm about them going into the house. "I'm sorry, but we haven't seen anyone from the household all day. And we've been working since early this morning. I can't just let a couple of teens wander around in that building. What ever happened last night did a lot of damage to the its structural integrity. One wrong step in there, and a wall could come crashing down on your head. Not even a hard hat can protect you that."

The woman knowingly exaggerated the true extent of the damage to the house. Her men had already restored the building's integrity. She just did not want a couple of teens running around. Especially this girl. The last thing he wanted was some of her men being distracted while on the job.

"Thank you." The sorrow in redhead's voice was almost palpable. "If you do see my mother, can you tell her that I'm looking for her?" The sad little girl act was exceptionally compelling. Not only was the forewoman convinced, Ryoga was not able to tell if Ranma was still acting.

"I'll have my men keep an eye out for her. You have my word."

"Thank you." Ranma said again, this time with a broad smile.

"Listen, I have to get back to work. Watch yourself on your way back to the road. Those foresters down there weren't too happy about your family buying the park, and building a house in it. The attack buy those crazy martial artists only pissed them off even more."

"Don't worry about me, I've got this guy hear to keep me safe." Ranma said gesturing over to Ryoga, who had a nonplussed expression on his face.

The forewoman, not seeming to notice the fanged boy's expression, nodded before returning back to supervising her workers.

When the woman was out of earshot, Ranma stopped her act. "Come on, you wanted me to take you home right?"

"Since when did you get so good at that?"

"At what?"

"Acting like a girly girl." Ryoga smirked. "Maybe you found your true calling."

"Shut it, bandana boy! I'm a guy through and through no matter what I look like on the outside."

"Could have fooled me..." He sarcastically responded.

 _'Not like that's difficult,'_ Ranma thought to herself. "Come on, Let's get going."

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 **Seki-shi, Gifu Prefecture**

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It was a clear, cloudless sky in the city of Seki, a good omen for what was to be the second annual Seki Outdoor Knife Show. For nearly eight hundred years, the citizens of this city have developed their smithing skills and technique. Over those eight hundred years, the city had become famous for their blades. Now in this modern age where swords, knives, and spears, though still desirable in and of itself, are broadly used as nothing more than functional wall-hangers. The people of Seki have mostly adapted with the times and have maintained their famed by switching to cutlery.

The citizens of Seki-shi were setting up their booths to show off their respective cutlery in the same place they had last year. A long strip of clearing along the Nagara River.

From the nearby tree line, a shadowed figure was watching as the people were going about their business. A closer look into the brush showed that the figure was actually a small, white feathered call duck. It was very odd for such a duck to be out in the wild, but what was even stranger about this duck was its eyes. They were filled with far more intelligence than a normal duck.

A closer look at the figure hidden in the tree line would reveal a small animal, a call duck. It was a particularly odd type of duck to be out in the wild, but that was not why the this particular duck was weird. It was the intelligence in its eyes.

Musu, the yazunichuan cursed hidden weapon master, was currently in his cursed form.

Without his glasses, he ended up getting turned around. Instead of continuing on his northward trek, numerous altercations caused by his new curse resulted in the sacrifice of the weapons he stored in his stuff space. Not to mention that he ended up lost, and had no clue of where he was.

Without is glasses, he was literally flying blind

The reason why he was waiting and watching from the tree line, was because he wanted to stay as far away from the people down as possible. For now. When Musu first stumbled across the early set up, manage to pick up some nearby conversation in regards to what was going on.

With the lose of his once sizable arsenal, the hidden weapon master was more than interested in this knife show.

 _'I'll have to make my move when it gets dark. When they turn on the lights, I'll find and disable the generator. In the darkness, I'll move from booth to booth and take whatever I can get my...wings on. Because of my eyesight, I wont be able to discern what would make a viable weapon, but at this point a candle stick would suffice.'_

Unknown to Musu, he had not completely shaken any people who were driven enough to pursue him.

A few hours away, three men were moving through the forests, tracking the footprints of a duck.

They appeared to be, and smelled like vagrants. Each of them had dirtied faces and unkempt hair. The ones that had them, wore ragged and soiled clothes that were better off being thrown out had it not been the only thing they had to wear. The one that did not have clothes wore a large barrel with shoulder straps.

"Where the hell is that damn goose goin?" One of the men asked out loud.

"How am i s'pose to know!? And wasn't it a duck?" Another one responded.

"Nah, it's gotta be a goose."

"Juro! Tetsuya! Enough bickerin ya damned idiots! You keep this up, we'll loose 'em again!" Growled the barrel clad man.

"Sorry, Kei/Barrel-butt." They said in unison.

"What did ya call me!" **Thud**! Kei yelled as he punched Tetsuya in the arm.

"OW! Why'd you hit me, Kei!?" he pleaded.

"SHUT IT!" Kei shouted at as he gave Tetsuya a stink eye for his snickering. "Now come on. these prints are getting fresher and fresher. I think we're getting closer."

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 **Hibiki Family Home**

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Unlike the last time Ranma led Ryoga back to the latter's house, there was no reason to hurry. The trip took them just over an hour as apposed to the ten or so minutes if they had rushed.

The Hibiki family home was a sizable two story stand-alone house. A head high privacy wall surrounded the building. The plant life was kept to nothing more that small shrubbery. There not any decent space within the wall for any larger plants to begin with.

The entrance of the property was a double wide gate with a plate next to it that read 'Hibiki.' The building itself was fairly normal for where it was aside from it second story, the ground floor of the building was unlike the other neighboring houses. Its windows were reinforced with iron bars to dissuade would be burglars. Clearly, the family who lived in this house were very adamant about keeping out intruders.

"Hey, looks like your dad's home." Ranma said to Ryoga.

"Hm?" Seeing the light on in the kitchen. "Nah, it's my mom."

"Really? How can you tell?"

"The last time my dad tried to cook he nearly burnt down the house, so mom banned him from the kitchen." Ryoga told her. He honestly found it ironic that someone who was a master craftsman could not figure out how to cook. "He hasn't been in there for years...not on purpose at least."

"You know, I've never met your mom before. What's she like?" She recalled.

Thinking back to when Ranma walked him to and from school, he remember that this mom was always out at the market at the time. Translating that to Hibiki speak, that meant that she was most likely lost. "I guess you haven't. The best way I can describe is that she's pretty calm and gentle, and she has kind of old fashion charm."

"She sounds nice."

"Yeah, she is. You can't ask for a better mom. I just wish she wasn't on my back about by love life."

Ranma chuckled at that. "Trust me, I know how you feel."

Making their way into the house, Ryoga called out to his mother. "Hey mom, I'm home! How've you been?"

"Ryoga?!" Exclaimed a woman from the kitchen, followed by the sound of crashing dishes.

"Mom?! Are you okay?! What Happened?!"At the sound of his mother in trouble, Ryoga rushed towards the kitchen without a second thought.

Ranma was initially taken aback by the familiar voice, but at the sound of the dishes shattering on the floor she snapped into action.

Both of the teens reached the entrance of the kitchen simultaneously. Looking into the room they saw a woman with dark green eyes not a day past thirty. She was laying on the floor next to a spilled pot of miso soup. Her plum purple hair was done up in a mimi kakushi style. The kimono she wore was stained from the hot soup that had spilled on her. It was easy to see that she was in pain.

"Mom!/Mom!" Ranma and Ryoga yelled simultaneously when they saw their mother on the floor.

"Wha?!/Huh?!" They said, when each other's words fully registered in their minds, but neither of them were able to fully wrap their head around the implications.

"Boys? What are yo-oh!" Nodoka was cut off by a sharp pain in her leg as she tried to stand up. The surprise from seeing both of her children together had initially distracted her from her scalded leg.

"Mom!/Mom!" exclaimed the teens as they ran to help the injured woman; pushing the idea that they might be siblings to the back of their minds.

"W-wait, there's no need!" Nodoka bleated out.

"Ryoga, fill a large bowl with lukewarm water and some clean cloths."

"I'm on it."

"Really boys, I'm fine!" Nodoka exclaimed, almost panicked.

"Okay mom, let's see how bad the burn is." Ranma said as she began to move her mother's kimono to reveal her burnt shin.

Wincing as she attempted to move away, Nodoka tried once again to stop her son-turned-daughter from touching her. "It's alright, Ranma. I'm fine, really." She said almost pleadingly.

Ignoring her mother's plea, the redheaded girl moved to treat the burn wound, a wound she quite familiar with. "It's alright mom. Pop and I have dealt with plenty of burns before. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"Listen, there's need for this. The burn is not too bad." She begged again.

Ranma looked her mother in the eyes. "How could I call myself a man if I didn't do everything i could to help you?"

Stunned by the question, Nodoka was not fast enough to stop her. "...wait!"

Lifting her mother's kimono to get a look at her injury, Ranma was surprised to see white furred paws in the place of human legs.

Ryoga had just finished filling a bowl with tap water. "Okay, I got the stuff. How bad is it...?" Looking for himself, he was met with the same canid legs that Ranma saw.

Looking back at her...brother...Ranma snapped him back into reality with her words. "Ryoga, bring the water over here. We need treat her leg. The burn doesn't look like anything worse than a minor scald, but I'm not willing to take any chances."

With a sharp nod, he replied. Putting the bowl of water down next to his...sibling...,he handed her one of the cloths. They began to treat their mother's scalded legs.

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End of Chapter 3

Yes, Nodoka is a kitsune, and she is the mother of both Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki. There was a slight hint about what she was at Dr. Tofu's clinic. One of the things known about kitsune is that part of their gifts are always trash. I planning on using the type of kitsune found more in the original Japanese myths. With a few changes here and there to spice things up.

Why did she keep these secrets from her children? Who else knows about her? Who is the elder brother? I'd tell ya, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. There's no fun in that.

Other questions you might have like how did the Saotome's suddenly get wealthy enough to buy an entire park and build a house in it? Will Ranma's curse be explained? What will Tatewaki do now that he's not insane? Will those homeless men catch Mousse? What is Nabiki planning? What happened to the Amazons? How much food can Ranma eat?

All of these questions will be revealed in the next chapter. Except for the food thing. Canonically speak, it would be about half a ton because of the power noodle. I can't believe I almost forgot that Ranma has the digestive strength of 100 men. I'm not going to waste that. I will also tell you that Ki will be far, far more prominent than magic in this story...maybe.

I'm planning on going back and editing the past two chapters. I noticed a few mistakes that I need to fix. I might even retcon some minor things to fit with where I want the story to go.

Please feel free to ask any questions. I always respond.

Chapter 4 should out before the end of July.


	4. The Gang is All Here

I could have sworn this chapter was only 8,000 words before I started editing.

last chapter's revelation between Ranma and Ryoga left a lot more questions. This chapter will answer plenty of them. From how the Saotome's came into possession of an entire park, to the numerous changes to Ranma's curse.

Aside from the two brothers dealing with their newfound siblinghood. Tatewaki has come up with an ingenious plan. No real man, let alone a Kuno, could truly forgive themselves after doing the things he had done. Ranma may have forgiven him, but he has yet to forgive himself. Though the plan itself is simple. it may lead some to question whether he's truly sane or not. But, like all things in the Ranmaverse, something is bound to go wrong.

Over in the Gifu prefecture, Musu has caught himself in a bit of hot water with a few hungry bums looking to get some payback. Will his little robbery pay off? Will it help him fend off his pursuers? Tune in this chapter to find out!

"Talking"

 _'Thinking/_ quoting _'_

 **Emphasis/Techniques**

Foreign Languages (This will always be done to languages foreign to the current setting)

'notes'

'Songs/book titles/foods'

Ranma ½ characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

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 **The Hibiki Family Home**

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The day was turning to dusk, and most of Japan's households were getting ready for the night after their long day. Among the few that were not was the home of the Hibiki family, a family notorious for their terrible sense of direction that left their home practically empty all year round. Inside the uncharacteristically active home, Ranma had finished treating Nodoka's injury. Wanting to keep her from agitating the wound, she carried her fox-legged mother to the kitchen table where Ryoga had been seated, pondering the implications of this knew revelation. Before sitting down herself, Ranma put some tea on before joining them at the table.

The tension between the three people had remained unbroken until the teakettle began to whistle minutes later.

"I got it." Ranma informed as she moved to finish prepping the tea.

With tension lessened by the teakettle's whistle, Ryoga worked up the nerve to finally speak to his mother. "S-so mom, are...you really a uh, a kitsune? And is Ranma **really** my…brother?"

Now that her children saw a glimpse of her true form, Nodoka reserved herself to answer their questions to the best of her ability. "I am, and yes, both of you are my beloved children." She answered without hesitation.

"If Ranma and I are brothers, why don't we look anything alike?" Ryoga pointed out. As far as his own personal experience went, most people who were siblings had at least some resemblance to one another.

"It's not well known, but all children with a kitsune parent grow up to be unique. A kitsune's children have the potential to become big, both physically and culturally. That uniqueness will also affect their appearance. Ryoga, In your case, I can see that you take after your father, save for those fangs of yours." Nodoka said with a smile, showing her normal human teeth change into those of a fox's. "You'll probably continue growing until you're just as tall as your father too."

Nodoka turned her attention to Ranma. "And you Ranma, you are definitely still growing. Your bra size is enough evidence of that."

"That's the only thing on me that seems to grow. I'd prefer to not become a pair of boobs with legs..."

The older woman chuckled at the humorous thought. "No, no, I'm sure you'll start growing taller any time now. That aside, you do have a number of traits you may have inherited from my side of the family." Nodoka told her.

"What traits are those?" The Ranma asked as she set the tea down.

"Well, you are quite the little trickster, you tend to attract an ever-growing number of potential lovers, and you seem to have an inability to marry into a human family, a distinctive trait of all male kitsune."

Thinking she didn't hear her mother right, Ranma asked. "...What was that last one?"

"The inability to marry into a human family. Why do you...oh" She answered, soon realizing where her son-turned-daughter was going with this.

A tick mark appeared on Ranma's temple at what her mother told her. "How in the hell that a trait!? And if you knew about it, why did you go along with the engagement if I couldn't marry Akane in the first place!?"

Ryoga was livid at the girl's outburst. "Hey! Just who do you think your talking to!?" he growled out as he stood to tower over the redhead for talking to his mother in such a way

Ranma was in no frame of mind to be intimidated, and was confident that she could handle anything her rival could dish out.

"Ryoga, please calm down! Ranma has every right to be angry." Nodoka pleaded with the boy, hoping to calm him down. The last thing she wanted was a fight to breakout between them.

When he turned to his mother to defend his threatening actions, he was met with her worried eyes. All resolve he had in speaking against her wishes died before he even opened his mouth. Gritting his teeth and forcing himself to cool his temper, he gave his sibling a barbed glare before sitting down again.

Content now that Ryoga was calm again, Nodoka turned her attention back to Ranma. "It may sound silly, but I was instructed to not interfere with anything that might…put you in danger. That includes your engagements. It was just after I found out that I was pregnant with you, that I was told that if you were not subjected to a constant threat on your life, Genma would kill you." The downcast expression she wore, and guilt in her voice made it clear to Ranma that she was telling the truth.

The redheaded girl could hardly believe what her mother was saying. At the same time, she could not think of a reason to lie about something like this. "Why would you believe something like that? I know pops is an idiot. But there's no way he'd actually trying to kill me." She stated.

"18 years ago I was asked by Lord Inari-sama to court your father. I do not know why he came to me specifically, but he had taken me under his wing when I first transitioned from a normal fox into a kitsune. Marrying Genma was the least I could do to repay that debt. Before I accepted, Inari-sama made sure to warned me profusely that I might have to do some things that went against my very nature as a Kitsune, wife, and mother. With the way how Inari-sama acted at the time I was sure that this was a deeply personal matter."

Nodoka took a moment to see how Ranma was taking this knowledge before she continued. "Listen Ranma, I am quite unsure of all of this myself, but one thing that I am sure of is that Genma would never **try** to kill you, on purpose. For as long as you've known him, can you honestly say that his actions haven't resulted in constant near death experiences?

"I, well...well no, but why would he?" Ranma was not able to grasp the idea of her father actually killing her. True, Genma had done some…a lot of stupid things in the name of 'training,' but it had always worked out in the end...most of the time. On top of that, her father did care more about her well being than the engagement when she fought Cologne for the phoenix pill. Even though that meant she would have had to marry Shampoo.

But this was not at the for front of her mind. She was deep in thought about something else her mother said.

"Inari-sama made it very clear that the only way for you to survive was to be put in danger. I know it sounds stupid, but it is the truth." Nodoka's was put off by Ranma's silent contemplation. She was unable to tell how angry she was with her.

Suddenly, the redheaded girl cupped her fist in her hand in a display of comprehension. "I knew something was off from the very moment you showed up at the Tendos', and told us that you were married to my old man!"

"Wh-what is it?" Nodoka asked, curious at what Ranma was about to say.

"I knew a guy like my old man couldn't get married to someone as attractive as you without some type of divine intervention." Ranma pointed out in a matter-a-fact tone and with a sharp nod of her head in understanding. "It all makes sense now."

Nodoka was briefly stunned by her cursed son's words. She did not expect Ranma to be more focused on something like that. "I-I though you would be angry with me. I was afraid you would hate me for being such a terrible mother." _'And Genma wasn't always that hard on the eyes...'_

"Why would I be angry with you? You said it yourself, Inari told you to do something that was supposed to keep me alive. I don't really understand how making my life hell helped me. But I'm still alive, so I guess it worked. 'Sides, you're my mom. There's nothing you could do that would make me hate you." Ranma found herself suddenly taken into her mother's arms. Like her hug with Kasumi, it took her a moment to reciprocate the rare experience. Once she returned the teary-eyed woman's hug, the Nodoka started sobbing in her child's smaller arms. This was one of the few times that they had embraced one another since they were first reunited after being separated for over a decade. Neither of them wanted to let the other go.

This whole display of familial affection was making Ryoga a bit uncomfortable. His terrible sense of direction never allowed him to spend as much time with his parents as much as he wanted. Seeing Ranma of all people getting such attention from his, well...their, mother was a vicious stab to his gut. The length of their embrace only continued to twist the hilt.

Nodoka's motherly senses allowed her to detect Ryoga's growing frustration. As much as she wanted to continue holding Ranma to make up for all the lost time between them. She did not want to give either of them the idea that she loved either of them more than the other. "Let's not forget about your brother now. I'm sure he has some questions of his own."

Grumbling under her breath, the smaller girl begrudgingly let go.

Nodoka turned her attention to Ryoga. "I'm sure you have plenty of questions yourself, Ryoga. You can ask me anything."

The jealousy that he had been subconsciously building up was now dissipating to more 'reasonable' levels. He did have a number of questions he wanted answers for. Some of them had already been partially answered, but there was one thing that he was really curious about. "So...if you're a kitsune, what does that make us?" He asked.

Nodoka paused to think about her answer. "You should still be mostly human, but I'm not so sure about your brother."

"What do you mean?" The gender-cursed boy questioned.

"Thanks to Inari-Sama's teachings, I have more knowledge in the arcane than most kitsune my age. When we first met face to face after all these years, I could tell that you were exposed to all sorts of magics." Nodoka Recalled the moment she and Ranma fell into the canal. "Now, it looks as if the individual magic combined and fused together with your body and soul." Nodoka got a closer look at the girl. "Even your aura is tinged with magic. What happened after that disaster of a wedding? The magics in your body were still...'normal' back then."

Ranma began retelling what happened over the course of the two days. It was not until she got to the point where she and Ryoga first crossed the torii gate that was supposed to remove the foreign magics from their bodies when Nodoka stopped her.

"You two crossed that Torii with that much magic in your bodies!? I can't imagine the pain. Most yokai avoid going anywhere near there, because we tend to use magic on ourselves constantly. The process would most likely kill us. I'm glad to see that you two are alright."

"Yeah, but something went wrong. My curse changed and now I have no idea how it works anymore." Ranma told her.

"Hmm, with a few hours, I may be able to figure out what some of the effects are." She gave her son-turned-daughter a quick survey. "Just looking at you now, I can see that virtually every part of your body is magical in some way."

"Do you think it can be cured...?" Ranma asked, but she had a pretty good guess of what that answer would be.

Nodoka did not like being the bearer of bad news. "I...I don't think so. Whatever happened after you crossed that torii caused the magics to fuse with you **completely**. Removing it would most likely rip your soul apart."

"So, it's permanent…"

"If it makes you feel any better. I think you make a beautiful daughter." Nodoka affirmed with an honest smile.

"...Thanks." Ranma said, not exactly sure how to take such a complement. "So what about our dads? Do they know what you are?"

"No, and for a good reason. You saw it for yourselves, I'm not just any kind of kitsune, I am a myobu, a white fox. If anyone were to find out that I am not human, I must leave everyone behind and return to Inari-sama to continue my services as one of his messengers. That is how it normally goes. Thankful, Inari-sama allowed me some more leeway than he would normally give."

"Wouldn't we count as **anyone**?" Ryoga asked, gesturing to Ranma and himself.

"That is where the leeway I was granted comes in. I was told that no matter who discovers my true nature, I would be allowed to return. Once Ranma produces offspring."

A long pause followed after Nodoka finished.

"Is that why you were so supportive of me and Akane getting married?" She questioned her mother.

"Yes." Nodoka confirmed. _'Though I did have second thoughts after trying her cooking.'_ She thought to herself.

 _'Why would a deity be interested in this jackass having a kid?'_ Ryoga wondered to himself.

Ranma ignored the feeling that someone had just insulted her. "But, I don't have any kids."

"I know, but when you do, I'll be able to return. No other kitsune, or yokai for that matter, has ever been granted such a privilege." Nodoka, being a kitsune, saw things a bit differently than a human. To a kitsune, time was not a major issue as they were functionally immortal making them very, very patient creatures. She was also well aware of Ranma's aptness to attract potential suitors, human and otherwise, so she figured that by the time she returned, Ranma given her oodles of grandbabies to dote over.

As Nodoka was happy about her arrangement, Ranma and Ryoga had differing opinions from their mother.

For Ranma this was very upsetting. Because of her father, she had spent most her life without a mother. Her earliest memories as a young boy wear of her and Genma training in a far-off foreign land. The vast majority of her memories with her mother were when she pretended to be Ranko Tendo. It has only been a few weeks since she truly reconnected with her mother, and now she was going to lose her again.

Ryoga silently sat in barely restrained rage. He has been trying to be more cordial with Ranma, evident by the fact that they've only fought each other once while in the vicinity of one another for over 24 hours. But in his honest opinion, out of all the times that his rival had made fun of him, humiliated him and generally made his life harder, this was the worst thing she has ever done. Because of Ranma, their, no, **his** mother would have to leave.

The only thing keeping him from launching himself at Ranma was the fact that his mother was still here. Mentally promising to himself that he would give Ranma a thrashing 50x time worse than what he gave her for that Yoiko stunt. The redheaded girl actually being his sister be damned.

Nodoka's enhanced senses were more than sharp enough to sense her children's current disposition. And they were quite disturbing to her. With Ryoga's anger and Ranma's gloom, she did not want to leave her children in such a way.

"Don't be like that you two. As a kitsune, being found out by our loved ones is more of an eventuality. It's practically guaranteed to happen, and none of my kind have ever managed to stay hidden for more than a few years. It was very fortunate that I managed to go unnoticed for so long." Nodoka saw that her words were doing nothing to lessen Ranma's sadness, or eased Ryoga's anger. "Come now, I wish for our final memories to be those of happiness."

"...Yeah." Was Ranma's only response to her mother's attempt at lessening her guilt. But Nodoka could tell that her words had a desirable effect. A minor one, but one non the less.

"I have a deck of cards in my room. We can play old maid." Ryoga offered.

"Come on, you gotta have something bett-" Ranma's snark was cut off by Ryoga coming within mere inches from her face.

"Shut your mouth, Ranma!" Ryoga growled through clenched teeth, practically yelling in the girl's face. "It's your fault she has to leave. As far as I'm concerned, you have no right to tell me how to spend **my** last moments with **my** mom!"

Ranma opened her mouth as if to retort back, but nothing came out as her words were caught in her throat. _'She's my mom too...'_

"Ryoga, please!" Nodoka pleaded as she grabbed on to him as if to hold him back.

Looking back at his mother again and seeing the frightened look in her eyes, he could not help but feel like he was the bad guy in the situation. It did not sit well with him. "I... I'm gonna go get the cards." He said to no one in particular.

Nodoka watched as her son made his way to his room to make sure that he did not get lost along the way. A Hibiki's sense of direction only got worse when their emotions where this unstable. She recalled her first love from before she met Genma, Tetsuo Hibiki.

After he learned of her pregnancy with Ryoga, he proposed to her on the spot and promised that he would take responsibility. She remembered how devastated he was when she told him that she was forbidden to marry him. The tall, stalwart man looked as if he was about to crumble in on himself once he heard those words. Nodoka had explained to him that she had been arranged to marry someone else. Half determined and half in desperation, Tetsuo declared that he would make his case for her hand in marriage. Dead set on meeting with Nodoka's parents to prove that he would make a good husband for their daughter, Tetsuo ran through the nearest door without hesitation. Not only had he not realized that he had just made a large hole in the hallway closet, but that he had no clue where Nodoka's family lived. After a solid thirty minutes of running at full speed, he Realized this and turned around to ask Nodoka for directions.

It had taken him over two years for him to find her again. But by this time she was already married to Genma Saotome, had given birth to her second son, Ranma, and seen them off on their infamous training trip.

The fact that she is a kitsune, made her gestation period that of a normal fox. Ryoga had been born a mere two months after Tetsuo had gotten lost. It was only thanks to her training under Inari-Okami that she managed to mother and raise Ryoga in secret. Before Ranma and Genma left. She had even orchestrated a few playdates between the two toddlers.

 _'I wonder if I still have photos from back then...'_ Nodoka thought to herself before being broken from her musings.

"Hey, we're back." Ranma announced as she led an half angry half embarrassed Ryoga back to the table. The directionally challenged boy was grumbling under his breath about how 'this doesn't change anything.'

Apparently he had gotten lost while she was not paying attention. Nodoka mentally berated herself for getting lost in her own memories and distracting herself from keeping an eye on her eldest. "Oh! that's good." Nodoka stood up from her seat as if she remembered something important. "Wait right there, I'll be but a moment." She said, her voice laced with enthusiasm.

While waiting for their mother Ranma though it would do some good to talk with her best-friend-turned-brother. "So-"

"I hate you." Ryoga stated impassively.

"I know." Ranma nodded. "…you kno-"

"I am going to **beat** you." He continued

"...But I-" Was all she got out before her meager protest was cut off.

Ryoga leaned close to her face. " **hard.** "

With that, Ranma decided it was smarter to give up while she was behind. There was no need to risk making things worse.

A moment later, their mother came back with a large smile and an equally large wooden box. After setting it down in the center of the table, she took off the lid and sat back down. "I managed to save these before those fiancées of yours destroyed our old home, Ranma."

Curious, Ryoga reached into the box and pulled out a large, leather bound book. Looking at it he saw that it was dated from 1976 to 1990. He thought it was odd that the date had not been updated in three years. Opening it to the first page where he saw a picture of what looked like himself as a newborn in a tiger onesie. _'…Oh no…'_

"Hey, what is it?" Ranma asked, curious about what was in the book Ryoga took out.

"Nothing!" He squawked, slamming the book shut. Soon-to-be-dead-sister or not, there is no way in hell that he was going to let Ranma of all people see any of this.

"Oh, come now, Ryoga. There is no reason to act like that." Turning to Ranma. "It's a photo album I put together from the pictures I took of you two when you were younger. I...do wish I had more photos of you. Your training trip left me with only a few." She mused.

Ranma did remember that her father had a few photos of her when she was younger, and fully male. Aside from the fact that she did not know where Genma was at the time. It would take too long for her to actually find him let alone get the photos from him."

Although brief, she felt a strong desire for a few of those age mushrooms Ryoga found that one time, so she could de-age herself. It was an extreme, and not to mention stupid idea that would definitely result in something going horribly wrong. But if it made her mother happy, she would de-age herself in a heartbeat.

It was as immediate as her initial desire. The redheaded girl felt a very familiar feeling. It was something that she had not felt in months. She felt her heart go **THUMP!** Which was followed by a **SHA-BANG!**

From Ryoga and Nodoka's point of view, Ranma seemed to suddenly start shrinking below the table. But it was Nodoka who was able to notice something that would be invisible to most humans. The magic involved in what had just happened. She recognized that it was some type of age altering magic. Something that she had only seen once as a demonstration while studying under Inari-Okami. Not only is age manipulating magic extremely complex, requiring centuries of study and practice to even begin to grasp the basics. It is a magic that heavily taxes one's stamina and vitality. Often, those who attempt this type of magic end up killing themselves and others in one way or another.

As she witnessed Ranma use this magic with her own highly trained eyes. Nodoka was left dumbfounded by two things she had observed in the change.

First, was the ease at which Ranma had done it. It was as if it was an inherent ability, like her own shapeshifting. Second, was the actual 'magic' itself.

Akin to how Ki is the life-force of all humans, animals and plants. Magic is the life-force of all supernatural beings around the world. Though there are a number of minor differences between the two. There is one major similarity and difference between them.

The similarity is that like any skill, magic and Ki can be cultivated with hard work and dedication. Mastery of either one comes with great power and prestige, but that is where their similarities end.

The differences between magic and Ki are in how they are used, who, and what can use them, and their limitations.

Strictly defining what magic and Ki are is nearly impossible, but they are more often than not describe by how they are normally used. Alteration and manipulation. Magic is used to alter reality in anyway one desires, and Ki is be used to manipulate existing reality. As long as one has the skill to do so

Altering something changes it to its very core aspect, like turning stone into gold and vice versa. Manipulation on the other hand simply molds and enhances existing matter and energy. This includes Ki energy itself.

Along with that, no supernatural creature can harness the power of Ki in any way, shape or form. This includes items that have been infused with Ki. but all humans can used magical items. Mortal descendants of supernatural beings may even be able to use magic in some capacity. Though not many humans believe in the arcane anymore, so much of this knowledge is either lost or regarded as fairytales and myth.

To most supernatural beings, magic is superior to that of Ki. That is a misconception bread by the fact that most humans do not know how to harness their own Ki. The oldest and more knowledgeable beings know the truth.

The amount of magical power any being can acquire is limited to a 1000-3000 year period depending on their species. After that, their magical reservoir will no longer grow. They will be forced to live with what they have gained.

On the other hand there are no limits like this on Ki. In fact, if it were not for a human's short lifespan, there would be no limit to how much Ki they could amass.

The second thing that Nodoka noticed about Ranma's 'magic' was that it was not…normal. She was not even sure if she should call it magic. Pure magic is black in color. Once it is harnessed, It will change color to reflect what it is being used for. The magical abilities that all supernatural beings are born with are various shades of browns for earth, whites for air, blues for water, and reds for fire.

The color of pure Ki is white according to Inari-sama. The color of Ki is a reflection of one's soul. The only thing that can change the color of Ki would be substantial changes to the wielder's soul.

What Nodoka saw was something she has never seen, nor heard of. She saw that when Ranma had altered her physical age, the magic that she used was duel colored. A sapphire blue tinged with a brilliant gold. She had a hunch at what that golden tinge was. But from her understanding of how magic and Ki interacted with each other. It should not be possible. It was similar to the interaction between oil and water. They just don't mix.

A few seconds after Ranma's de-aging, Nodoka and Ryoga saw ten little fingers grip onto the edge of the kitchen table as the chair the girl was sitting in was pushed back. Followed by the sounds of someone trying, and struggling, to climb on top of the table. "Ugh! A little help, please!?" Came a very young girl's voice.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry about that." Nodoka said as she got up. "I was just surprised at what…" The woman paused when she saw the little girl. "…I saw."

Dangling from the edge of the table was Ranma-chan, no older than two years of age. Thankfully, the magic that effects her clothes when she changes sex also works with age too.

Ranma-chan's red hair was done up into braided twintails. Having changed from its original ponytail into something she would personally consider more girly and childlike. Similar in look to the Yoiko Hibiki disguise she wore. Her previously altered tangzhuang shirt changed once more. From the risqué crop top to a full length, long sleeve version of her favorite Chinese style shirt. A cute floral design danced across the hemlines. The form fitting trousers she wore just a moment ago had turned into a black knee-length pleated skirt.

Ranma Saotome, a true man's man by the very definition, who doubles as one of Tokyo's number one bombshell babes, has now taken the form of a cute, doe-eyed little girl. A man's pride can only take so much!

Ryoga could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was just like the time they ate those magic mushrooms. This was bad. If Ranma turned into a little kid, how would he be able to give her a decent beatdown? As much as he liked the idea of beating Ranma up, he did not want to accidentally kill her. He knew his mother would hate it if he did that. And not only that, but he needed the bastard to have a kid, not be a kid.

Nodoka wordlessly reached down to pick up her beautiful baby girl as gently as any mother would. Taking the small child in her arms, she was having a difficult time reminding herself that Ranma was mentally a young man in his late teens. Treating her like a baby would be humiliating. _'But she's so cute!'_

"thanks mom," Ranma-chan told her mother, silently cursing her aged induced speech impediment. "You can put me down on the table now."

Nodoka valiantly fought the urge to take her little bundle of joy into the mother of all glomps. It was no easy task, but she managed to set Ranma-chan down without giving in to her base desires.

"What happened to me!" Ranma-chan exclaimed, noticeably tired from what caused her to change. Taking a moment to glare at Ryoga's barely muffled snickering.

This only served to make him double over with laughter. Through his laughs. "Ranma, you weren't intimidating as a teenage girl. What makes you think you're intimidating as a little ankle-biter?"

"At least we can speak as equals now." Ranma-chan jeered at her older brother.

"You brat!" Ryoga growled out

"Boys!" Nodoka snapped.

The two siblings flinched. "Sorry mom/Sorry mom?"

Just as Ranma-chan turned her back to him, Ryoga had a brilliant idea. _'Mom, did say she wanted some more pictures of the brat.'_ Nonchalantly, so as to not attract attention to himself, he put the photo album back in the box and swapped it out with a Kodak camera. _'What kinda son would I be if I didn't deliver."_

Nodoka glanced over at Ryoga, and noticed the camera in his hands. With a smile, she continued to speak to Ranma as if nothing was going on. The trickster and mother sides of her heart were on board 100%. "I have a theory, but I need to see your Ki first. Do you know how to bring it up?"

"Sure thing, just give me a sec. I'm feelin kinda drained." Ranma-chan said as she closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. After a few seconds, a golden ball with a blue tinge appeared in her hands. Though there was an annoying clicking sound in the background that was messing with her concentration.

Nodoka reached out to touch the orb. When she touched the ball of strange Ki, she felt the equally strange magic inside of it. This confirmed part of her suspicions. "Ranma, I believe that what ever happened to change your curse has also infused your Ki with magic."

Ranma's knowledge of magic was extremely limited. Even with all her first-hand experience, and the hours and hours of study to find a cure for her jusenkyo curse. Magic was still largely unknown to her. "Is that a good or bad thing?" She asked.

After a few more moments of examining the odd fusion of conflicting energies. She began to feel a very, very minor pulling sensation on her magic. "I'm…not sure. Something like this has never happened before, nor has it been theorized." Out of curiosity, she created a ball of orange kitsunebi and touched it to the ball of magical Ki. Upon contact with Ranma's strange Ki, her foxfire was drawn into it and absorbed. "Oh my!"

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" Ranma-chan asked, turning her head to see what Ryoga was doing to make that clicking sound, and saw him shuffling a deck of cards. She could not help but think he was up to something.

"No…at least…I don't think so." Nodoka continued to use more magic on the orb. From as basic healing spells to flaming balls of lightning and fire. The latter of which made the little girl's eyes bulge humorously. But no matter what she made; all magic she drew forth was absorbed one after another into Ranma's Ki. _'I have never seen something like this before. It's as if Ranma's Ki is eating my magic. I will need to speak to Inari-sama about this.'_ "I don't know what to make of it. But it doesn't appear to be harmful. Ranma, do you feel anything different?"

"Not really, a bit less tired I guess." The little girl answered reabsorbing the Ki. "Hey mom, do you know how to change me back?"

"Hmm." Nodoka began contemplating. _'His change looked similar to an inherent magic ability. Maybe it'll work the same.'_ "Try desiring to return back to your original age. You need to truly want to be seventeen again."

"I'll give it a shot…" Ranma-chan said, clearly skeptical at such an easy solution. She began concentrating on the desire to be her rightful age. Seconds later, the two-year-old began to return to the ripe old age of 17. "Huh, that was…easy?"

"I suspected as much, but I must advise you not to do it too often. If my assumptions are correct, doing so will heavily tax your Ki. You should be feeling exhausted."

"Yeah." Ranma confirmed. _'That's an understatement. I couldn't even lift myself up onto the table the first time.'_ She thought to herself as she slid off the table and slumped down into the nearest chair. "So now what?"

"Now," smirked Ryoga as he handed Nodoka a stack of a few dozen pictures, "we can go ahead and play cards."

"Oh Ryoga, these came out perfect!" She gushed.

"What're those?" Ranma asked.

Nodoka took one of the pictures are showed her. "Don't you just look so adorable!" She exclaimed as she held up a photo of Ranma-chan as she was trying to bring up her Ki.

Glaring up at Ryoga, who was dealing the cards with a smile on his face, "Sigh…Yeah, yeah I sure do…"

Tittering at Ranma's response, Nodoka lightly tapped the girl's shoulder. "Oh, don't be like that." Nodoka lightly chided. "Come now, let's enjoy our game. When you're feeling too tired to play anymore, I'll help you off to bed." Nodoka suddenly had a brilliant idea. She knew how much Ranma liked competition. "How about this, if you win one game, I'll look into what triggers your curse." _'I was already going to do that, but I think he needs some motivation. I'm not very good at card games anyway.'_

"Really!" Seeing her mother nod. "That's the best news I've heard all week!" She said as she picked up her cards with a confident grin. _'I just need to win one game, easy enough.'_

"I guess you're gonna have to wait a while, Ranma." Ryoga grinned. _'I've been playing old maid for years. You're not winning this time!'_

And so, the three worst gamblers in all of Japan played cards. It was a long night…

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 **Seki-shi, Gifu Prefecture**

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It was around dusk for the city of Seki, and the Seki Outdoor Knife Show had gone on smoothly. Because it was getting dark, a large generator was brought out to power the lights and other electrical equipment. Cutlery enthusiast from all over where browsing the fine examples of expert blade work. Everything was going as the event organizers had planned. The citizens, enthusiasts and tourists were having a great time.

Everyone was so preoccupied with event that they paid no attention to the lone duck flying through the darkening sky.

Mousse, the now exiled martial artist of the Joketsuzoku, was using his yazunichuan cursed form to fly through the air. He was currently looking for the generator so he could shut off the lights. He knew it would take some time to find it without his glasses, but his terrible eyesight was making this take a ridiculous amount of time.

He had been flying for hours at this point, and his wings were growing tired. Deciding that he needed to rest, he flew down to the nearest perch before taking to the skies again.

Not too far away from where the half-blind duck was, three figures peeked out from the forest line.

"Any of ya see that damn duck anywhere? I can barely see a thing anymore." A barrel clad man whispered to his companions.

"I can't see nothin', 'cept for that festival. I was in this expectin a meal, Kei. I'm tired, hungry, mah feet hurt-"

"Quit yer whinin, Juro!" Kei hissed as he blindly threw his hammer-like fist. "I already to you we'll eat and rest when we get our hands on that duck!"

"You're just mad that goose stole yer clothes the other day." Juro mumbled just loud enough to be heard.

"Juro!" Kei growled out as he readied his fist again.

"Hey, hey Look! It's the goose-duck!" Tetsuya, with his good arm, pointed to the white feathered duck sitting on a generator.

"Good eye, Tetsuya." Kei said as he oafishly patted the man's sore shoulder. "Now all we gotta do is sneak up on em. Follow my lead." He said as he fell to the ground and started crawling toward the duck.

"R-right behind ya Kei." Tetsuya called as he struggled to crawl with his bruised shoulder.

"Yeah, right behind…" Juro sighed as he walked behind the two.

The three vagrants began to sneak up on the duck they had been hunting for nearly a day. Just seeing the feathered thief again made their stomachs rumble and their mouths water. Because of all their stomach rumbling, Kei delivered another punch to Tetsuya's hurt arm for making too much noise with his gut.

Mousse was frustrated. He has spent hours looking for the generator, and yet he had no clue where it was. It was looking like he'd have to go just swoop down and take the first thing he could get his wings on. Feeling as though he was rested up enough, he flexed his wings to get ready to search for the generator again. That was until he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Followed by someone clumsily attempting to tackle him, smashing into the object he was seated on.

Sparks began to fly as a barrel clad man practically threw himself into the generator the duck had been perked on, smashing it and giving himself a powerful shock in the process.

The lights that lit up the festival grounds went out causing sudden panic amongst the people. This is what Mousse had been hoping for. Taking this opportunity, he began to fly in the direction of where he last saw the largest stand. Just as he was taking off, an unknown person latched onto his leg, throwing off his flight path. "Yer not gettin way this time! Juro! Tetsuya! Grab onto mah legs! We're groundin this bird!"

"Yessir!" Tetsuya called

"This goose better be worth it." Juro mumbled to himself.

From the start, Mousse knew the that his vision would be a problem, but he never expected the added burden of live cargo. His flight path was completely butchered. Had anyone been able to see right now they would have been met with the sight of three dirty bums being flown around by a small duck.

If it were not for the Jizo statue he carried for several days straight, Mousse would not have had the strength to even get off the ground. Even with the extra dead weight, it did not stop him from his attempt to replenish his personal armory. So, he dove down toward where he remembered the displays were. Taking the people weighting him down along for the ride.

"Quit strugglin ya damned-WHOA!" Kei screamed as the duck dove down.

Seeing how sour things were going, Juro, let go of Tetsuya's legs before he was carried away into whatever insanity was about to ensue. "Gawd damnit! No goose's worth this much trouble! I ain't survived this long doing shit like this!"

"Juro?" Tetsuya called when he felt the other man let go. "Kei! I think we lost Juro!"

"More food for us then!" Kei grinned.

 **"QUACK!?"** Vocalized Mousse when he heard what the two men were planning to eat him. _'The knives can wait. I need to get rid these guys!_ That was when he came up with a splendid idea.

As he flew into the knife show, he purposefully smashed his tagalongs into every display stand along the way. He could tell his plan was affective not only by the yelps of the men, but by the sudden lessening of the weight.

Tetsuya could not hold on anymore. He tried his best, honestly, but Kei did a real number on his shoulder earlier. The pain from whatever was stabbing at him in the dark was too much to handle. "S-sorry OW! K-Kei, I-I can't AUGH! H-hold on no ARGH! M-more!" He said as he let go and crashed into one final booth. **CRASH**!

"Fine! Be that way!" Kei yelled at the other man. "I guess it's just you and me now." He chortled. _'I knew this barrel was a good idea! I can't feel nothin!'_ "let me show you how grateful I am about you flyin off with my clothes!" He grinned as he struck the duck with a heavy blow to the head.

As things were, Mousse was unable to notice the punch coming. The heavy hit stunned him, causing the two to come crashing down.

"That…may've been a mistake…" Kei gulped as they crashed down into the last remaining booths at high speeds. **CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! SPLOOSH!**

About a minute after that last crash, Mouse began to regain his bearings once more. He was happy to note that the feeling of someone grabbing his leg was gone. Being eaten was not his preferred way to die.

Listening to his surroundings, all the farsighted fighter was able to hear was the sounds a flowing river, nocturnal animals, and panicked voices in the steadily growing distance. Opening his eyes, Mousse was able to make out his immediate surroundings even without his glasses. He was on an empty wooden barrel flowing down the river.

As luck would have it, the barrel he was floating on was practically pin-cushioned with all sorts of cutlery. Mousse began collecting the knives and storing them in the Ki pockets of his wings. _'I'll see where this river takes me and then head north.'_ At this point he had no idea where in Japan he was, but he was banking on the possibility of finding Tokyo and restarting from there.

There is no way he would be able to save his family from the wrath of the Joketsuzoku without help. All he could hope to do by himself was slow them down. Even though his family lives in one of the Joketsuzoku's sister tribes. The newspaper the villages use to communicate between one another would guarantee that word of his and his families curse and exile would travel fast. He needed to find help, or at least a way to break the curse.

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 **Hibiki Family Home**

 **Night**

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It was a little past 12 a.m., and all but one occupant was still awake in the Hibiki family home. That one person, at least in her current form, was Nodoka Saotome, one of Inari-Okami's loyal myobu kitsune, and beloved mother of both Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki.

After their game of cards, Nodoka helped Ranma off to bed. As promised, she had spent hours watching over Ranma to see if she could figure out what the new trigger for his curse was.

Not only was she successful, but it was easier that she thought it would be. With how many different magics were mixed into Ranma's body, Nodoka assumed it would take her until morning before she figured out what the trigger for the sex change was. It had only taken her 2 hours instead of her estimated 8. It was as if the magic in Ranma's body purposely made it easier for her, like it wanted her to figure out how it worked.

This was odd, but that was not the strangest thing she had ever heard of.

She saw that most of the magic seemed to be quality of life enhancements. Of the magics she was able to identify, only two of them could be useful for anything even resembling classic martial arts. Both of which she could identify what magical item they originally came from. These two magics were The Shadow Aide Incense and the Yamato no Orochi's Moss of Life.

The Shadow Aide Incense was very popular amongst accomplished martial artists, but it fell out of use due to its negative side effects. The shadow aide would eventually develop its own twisted personality based on its user. One without any moral restrictions. Once it becomes self-conscious enough, the shadow would break free and wreak havoc, ruining the reputation of the martial artist.

Based on how great Ranma's interest is in anything martial arts, Nodoka was not surprised that her son got his hands on one of these.

Studying his shadow, she found that just like the rest of his curses, it too was moderately altered from its original function. It was unclear what would happen if Ranma brought forth this version of his shadow aide, but what was certain is that its more malevolent aspects have been removed.

However, The Moss of Life was a completely different story, because unlike the Shadow Aide Incense, it is far from common. The only way to get this moss would be to come face to face with the dreaded Yamato no Orochi, which should currently be sleeping at the bottom the of Ryugenzawa valley lake.

Legend of the Yamato no Orochi's healing moss is known widely amongst the yokai of japan. Its moss is said to be able to heal any wound, cure any poison and disease, and even make the most foul and unpleasant meals taste like gourmet cuisine.

Even with all of those benefits, none have tried to obtain any of this moss in several centuries. The Yamato no Orochi was powerful enough that not even Susanoo-Okami would not battle it head-to-head.

The only samples of The Moss of Life that she knows of are in Inari-Okami's spice cabinet. A wedding gift from Susanoo-Okami to Inari-Okami's, now deceased wife, Ukemochi-Okami.

How Ranma managed to not only survive an encounter with the eight headed dragon, but experience the benefits of its moss is very impressive to say the least.

Looking at this further, Nodoka found that contact with this legendary moss may have enhanced Ranma's already impressive healing ability granted to him by his Ki. Now that his Ki is imbued with this magic it is unclear just how powerful her youngest's self-healing capabilities are now. And that was not all.

Further examination showed that Ranma had gained three other magical abilities directly related to the Orochi's moss.

In his blood. Nodoka could smell the disease and poison curing magic flowing through his veins. Normally, this magic has a powerful stench that has a secondary 'benefit' of acting like smelling salts. Thankfully, Ranma's magically altered scent completely counters the strong smell. The strong smell of what could best be described as odoriferous, nostril torture was replaced with her favorite scents. What magics that were used to create this ability were a puzzle to her. She suspected that it was a mixture of various incense-based magic combined with the magic in his skin.

Speaking of the magic in his skin, Nodoka also noticed that Ranma's skin was given the taste enhancing magic, but his hands appeared to have the highest concentration of this ability. If it was anything like what Inari-sama had in his kitchen, Ranma could make anything edible taste as if it came straight from the finest kitchens in both the human and supernatural world, regardless of the ingredients used to make it. But unlike his healing, this ability apparently needs Ranma to make a conscious effort to use it.

Lastly, a high concentration of healing magic could be found in his mouth and on his lips. But it was laced with fast acting, short-lived love magic. Regardless of where on a person the kiss is administered, Nodoka theorize that a single kiss would result in a reverse of the Florence Nightingale Effect.

Although this was useful knowledge for Ranma to know, none of this is what Nodoka was looking for. She was trying to find out what triggered his change from male to female. All it took was 2 hours of study and discovery, before she had finally found what she was looking for.

Ranma's curse was running on an internal 24-hour clock. Based on what she was told during the conversations they had during their card game, she figured that Ranma would be locked in his female form for 9 hours. For the remaining 15 hours she found that he would be able to change back and forth between male and female at will.

Luckily for Ranma, he should be able to manipulate what time of the day he would spend locked. Switching to his female form at any point within the 15 hours he can spend as a male, it will count towards the 9 hours he is forced to spend as a female.

Nodoka knew how much Ranma wanted to be fully male again. But with how the magic in his body acts now, it can hardly be called a curse anymore. It acted more like an inherent magical ability. Similar to her own ability to created allusions and change shape. He would hopefully see this as being far more convenient than the version he had two days prior.

Before leaving to go checkup on Ryoga, she used her ability to alter Ranma's dreams to tell him what she found. Much faster than making a diagram of her son's body and a complementary list detailing the 11 magical abilities and aspects she could identify.

There was a 12th ability, but it was something that she had never encountered before. It must have been either very old, foreign or a combination of both. Whatever it was, it was something far out of her depth. She would have to speak to Inari-sama about it.

Nodoka pushed that little mystery to the back of her mind. As she made her way downstairs to the living room.

Even with the large amount of foreign and domestic souvenirs, the downstairs living room was well ordered. Being a professional homemaker, Nodoka had no problem taking care of both the new and former Saotome family home, and the Hibiki family home. She knew everything about these houses, including their secrets.

Making her way over to the furthest alcove at the end of the room. Once there she gave the back wall a hard push resulting in it moving back. She continued to push until a clicking sound was heard, and the wall slid to the side now of its own accord. A series of lights began to turn on, revealing a spiraling staircase descending down into the earth.

Tetsuo, was very protective of his workshop. She was not even allowed to tell their son about it. He told her that Ryoga would find his way down their eventually. As far as Nodoka knew, nobody besides her knew of its existence, let alone how to get to it. Before she started looking into Ranma's curse, Ryoga asked her if she could lead him to his father's workshop. How he knew about it puzzled her for a bit, but she would not be surprised if he simply got lost one day but did not remember how to get back.

Making her way down the winding, stone staircase she felt as the temperature steadily rose as she went further down. It was one of the main reasons why she hated going down there. With a temperature almost always above 35 degrees Celsius, she felt as if she was walking into a volcano. She never understood how Tetsuo could stand such heat.

At the bottom of the staircase, Nodoka came to a hard-wooden door. She could hear an almost rhythmic thumping noise coming from the other side. Bracing herself, she opened the wooden door and was hit with a wave of hot air. This was one of the few times she regretted wearing a kimono.

Looking around the active workshop for the source of the noise, Nodoka spotted Ryoga by the blazing furnace, hammering away at some heated metal on an anvil. If it were not for the difference in height, she would have thought it was Tetsuo.

Nodoka took a moment to observe what Ryoga was doing. His movements flowed with precision and ease, but were sharp and exact. Like a perfectly calibrated machine, he never used too much of his strength, but unlike a machine there was a deftness in his work that gave it a sense of fluidity. It was akin to watching an artist steadily paint life into a canvas.

It was truly amazing. Not just the skill Ryoga showed, but the fact that he is still just a novice compared to his father. Unlike when she sees Tetsuo craft, she could still see Ryoga's individual movements. With time and practice, his crafting will appear as one singular blur of seemingly infinite motion accompanied by the melodic songs of his tools striking, chiseling and molding material into works of functional art.

"Ryoga, dear?" Nodoka called out to the young man, knowing that it was most likely a hopeless endeavor. She tried again several more times, but as she expected, there was no response. Ryoga was completely engrossed in his work, like his father.

When she talked to Tetsuo about how he himself seems to zone out when he works, he told her that his focus was completely on his work. That every ounce of his concentration went into his current project. In a single word, he described it as a form of meditation.

The heat was becoming too unbearable for her to handle, so she closed the door to the workshop and went back upstairs. From what she saw, Ryoga would be at it all night.

Up in the family room, Nodoka willed herself to change. Her change from a gentle and attractive housewife into a kitsune was seamless. It was like seeing a Jusenkyo victim's change, but slowed down enough to actually see the transformation in detail. The length if her plum purple hair began to shrink down as its color change to a snow white. As The fur began to grow from her face, her head began to shrink down into a canid shape. The rest of her transformation was hidden as she sunk into her kimono.

The pool of cloth, that now laid on the floor of the kitchen, began to fidget until a white furred muzzle poked itself out from the pile of clothes. The fox struggled to shake herself loose from the clothes she could no longer wear. Upon freeing herself, Nodoka flicked her singular tail towards her kimono in a casual manner. The kimono itself lit up with magic, began to lift up from the floor and neatly fold itself before changing shape and shrinking down into a collar and wrapping itself around her neck.

Nodoka made her way to the front door of the Hibiki Family home. Normally, she would have simply flown through the keyhole. But, as much as she despised her, she could not leave her outside anymore. It was the least she could do for them for allowing her to spend some time with her children without making any ruckus.

Using her magic, Nodoka opened the front door to reveal Shirokuro, the Hibiki family dog, patiently sitting there, wearing a glare on her face.

Nodoka, like all kitsune, hated dogs. It did not matter their age, breed or even how nice they were. From a dog's point of view, the feelings were mutual.

Dogs were one of the few creatures that could naturally see through their illusions and break them. A kitsune's illusions were very delicate and volatile. Suddenly breaking their illusions could cause such psychic trauma that it's effects could be anywhere between a massive headache to rendering them completely insane if not a mental vegetable.

There was also the fact that for kitsune, tricking humans, in anyway, shape or form, could be a killing offense, even if for benevolent reasons. No one would bat an eye at her death if she were to be found out and killed. Due to the nature of a kitsune's death, so as to minimize the impact they might have had on human society, even her very own children would forget that she existed. A fate she wanted to avoid at any cost.

Dogs on the other hand were not called man's best friend for nothing. Their unconditional love, friendship and loyalty to their human masters was nearly unmatched. The only thing rivalling their love and loyalty would be the feelings a kitsune holds for their family.

Since ancient times, dogs and humans have coexisted in a symbiotic relationship resulting in these strong bonds. Dogs will naturally move to protect their human masters from any and all danger, especially their children. Sometimes even going as far as to protect their master's children from their masters themselves. Nodoka, being a kitsune, was deemed a threat to Ryoga's safety from the very first day she and Shirokuro met.

Shirokuro was not a stupid dog, far from it in fact. As much as she hated the nuisance before her, she was not going to succumb to her base protective instincts and deprive her master of his own mother. Their agreement to avoid one another whenever possible did help.

"Took you long enough, fox." Shirokuro said with a distinctive bite in her voice.

Nodoka stepped aside, to let Shirokuro inside. "As endearing as always, Shirokuro-san"

"You may be Ryoga-sama's mother, but I know your kind, trickster. When the day comes that you show your true colors, I'll be there.

"Come now Shirokuro, we've had this talk a thousand times already…" 

"And we'll have it a thousand more. If I don't do my job and protect Ryoga-sama by keeping you in line, who knows what hell you'll inflict on him." 

Nodoka rolled her eyes and smiled as she trotted past the checker coated dog. "If I weren't mistaken you seem smitten with my son."

"Th-That is preposterous! Ryoga-sama is nothing more than my master!" Shirokuro tried to defend herself from Nodoka's accusatory observation. "And not to mention I'm already 5 years old, that would make me what? 33 in human years? …N-not that something like that matters, or anything!"

Nodoka raised an eyebrow at that last bit. She decided not to press any further as she already had a pretty good hunch as to Shirokuro's true feelings. "If that is how you truly feel." She said with a playful wag of her tail. "I'll be gone for a while. I trust that you will look after the House while I'm gone."

"What do you take me for? It is only natural that I make sure the house is well guarded."

"Oh, and Ryoga's younger brother is in the guest bedroom."

"Do you mean that boy that walked Ryoga-sama home from middle school? I thought his scent was awfully similar to both yours and Ryoga-sama's." Shirokuro question. "Does he also have a sister? There was this nice girl who called herself Yoiko. She looked and smelled a lot like that boy."

 _'Yoiko hmm? Another one of Ranma's aliases, and a fitting one too.'_ Nodoka thought to herself. "Yes, but no. I'll tell you that magic is involve-"

"I'll stop you right there, fox. I don't want to hear about anything even remotely magical. That stuff is nothing but trouble." Shirokuro cut her off.

"Fine, but know that Ranma has a very magical body."

"That boy, Ranma, was always pretty nice to me, and Yoiko saved one of my pups from getting lost. If he is Ryoga-sama's sibling, I can make this one exception."

"That's good to hear. I'll be leaving now. I must return back to Inari-sama's service. I don't know how long I'll be gone-"

Nodoka was cut off by the sound of the front door closing and locking behind her. Shirokuro's muffled voice could be heard through the wooden door. "So sorry fox, I didn't want to let too much cold air and insects inside. Now have a nice trip, and take as long as you need. Tell your boss I said high. Goodbye~!" 

After her abruptly ended conversation with Shirokuro, especially with how it ended, Nodoka could summarize it with a single word. _'Bitch.'_ As much as she disliked that dog, she was not going to lash out at rude behavior and insults. Inari had taught her better than that. Speaking of which, it was time for her to leave.

With a flick of her tail, Nodoka's body began to give off a dull glow with magic energy. With practiced ease, she began to lift up into the air as if she were walking on the air itself. Then, with a single jumping motion, she soared up into the clouds of the night sky.

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 **Fushimi, Kyoto**

 **3:00 A.M.**

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It had been nearly three hours since Nodoka Saotome had left the Hibiki's. She had flown westward from Tokyo straight to the Fushimi Ward of Kyoto, home of the Fushimi Inari-Taisha. Located on Mt. Inari itself, with around 1,000 Senbon torii gates donated by Inari Okami's worshipers in hopes of their wishes being granted, and over 30 thousand sub-shrines located all throughout Japan, the Fushimi Inari-Taisha is rightfully known as the head shrine of Inari Okami. But as grand as this shrine truly is, it was not her destination.

Nodoka, appearing as a dim glowing streak of white, descended from the clouds. Picking up speed she began to look less like a fox yokai and more like a falling star that had been plucked from the night sky and thrown down to earth.

Just before slamming into a low wooden deck, Nodoka transfer the magic that allowed her to fly into her paws. This was a very unorthodox use of magic. Normally, one would cast a spell to slow themselves down. Spells like Autumn Leaves and Feather Fall, but marriage to a strong martial artist, such as Genma Saotome, seems to have had some influence on her.

With a burst of magic, Nodoka landed on an extended veranda as if she had landed on a mound of feather stuffed pillows. As the magical energy began to dissipate, she began to make her way in to the welcoming home of wealthy agriculturalist, industrialist, and businessman, Isao Yoshida, CEO of Kaizen.

Isao Yoshida was famous for not only owning rice farms in every prefecture across Japan, but he was well respected by both peers and competition for the efficiency of his business and his restraint. With the sheer size and scope of his operation, the fact that he only controls 10% of Japan's agricultural production and industrial output is due to nothing more than his own choice to limit his own reach.

Instead of expansion, he chose to put complete focus on two things. Self-sufficiency and continuous advancement.

The farms, the freight, the manufacturing plants, the distribution and everything in between. From the acquirement of raw materials to the transportation of the finished goods, it was all under his control.

This was coupled with almost continuous developments in the quality, speed, and efficiency of all levels of his business. New farming techniques to yield the best crops, development of equipment capable of creating high quality products at lower costs, upgrades to the transportation systems, et cetera. This was where most of the money that could have been used for expansion was.

Yoshida's numerous competitors knew that he could expand at any time, and they made sure to pray to the gods that, that day would never come. For if he were to do so, it would spell the end of them.

Even businesses outside of Kaizen's field of operation make note to keep an eye on them. Businesses like Kuno Labs Inc., who mostly specialize in medical science and mechanical engineering, try to follow their business model. Though progress has been slowed since the CEO of Kuno Labs Inc. went missing several years during a business trip in Hawaii.

From where she was, Nodoka would have been able to see the property's large strolling gardens, several pavilions positioned to get the best view over the landscape, and a tea house sat in the middle of the pond. It was truly a beautiful sight, but it was a sight that could wait, as she had more important things to do.

The white fox made her way up a set of stairs to the veranda. Just as she was about to enter the home, the door was opened to someone she had not seen in over a decade.

Standing there was a tall woman of 5'10. She wore a handmade nature-green kimono that looked to be taut around the bust. Her deep red hair was done up in a mimi kakushi hairstyle, similar to her own when in human form, but more floral and decorated with a yellow chrysanthemum. Her face was of a rare type of classic beauty.

At the sight of the kitsune before her, the woman gave a warm smile. "Nodoka, I've been expecting you to visit any day now."

"I-Inari-sama!" Nodoka yelped in surprise, immediately bowing her head in respect to her lord, master and parental figure, Inari Okami.

Inari Okami, primarily known as the Shinto kami of foxes, rice, tea, sake, agriculture and industry, but After Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the moon god, murdered his wife, Uke Mochi, he took up her role as the goddess of food. This evidently resulted in his status as both a god and a goddess. While grieving the loss of his first wife, some of the more mischievous lesser kami began tricking him into doing their work. But after one slight too far in the late 17th century, Inari had those lesser kami permanently dealt with. Without these lesser kami, Inari ended up taking over their domains and became the patron of swordsmiths, entertainers, merchants, and the protector of warriors. This easily made him one of the hardest working deities.

Inari muffled a chuckle behind her sleeve. "Come now Nodoka, I have never seen you so nervous."

Lifting her head, Nodoka looked up at the goddess. Looking into Inari's eyes, she briefly noticed a hint of sadness deeply suppressed. Seeing this, she became hesitant to tell her lord about why she returned before Ranma fathered a child.

"Is it something you have to tell me?" Inari asked.

Nodoka bit the bullet and spat out what needed to be said. "Yes Inari-sama, my true form was discovered by Ranma and Ryoga. I have returned to serve you again as was agreed."

Inari had a brief look of confusion on her face. "Nodoka, your task was completed sometime 2 days ago. I was hoping you would know who the mother was."

Now it was Nodoka's turn to be confused. "But…Ranma is a still virgin."

"For young man such as him? Are you absolutely sure, Nodoka?" Inari asked.

"Yes," she confirmed.

Inari had very little reason to not believe Nodoka. Aside from the fact that Nodoka would never lie to her, the woman was a kitsune. Like the kumiho who populated Korea, kitsune have a very strong sense for detecting virgin boys.

 _'How is that possible? Unless…'_ "Nodoka, was there anything strange involving Ranma's curse when you two last met?"

"Yes, very much so actually."

' _He never ceases to amaze does he..._ ' "Alright," Inari nodded, "tell me what you were able to find out."

"Over the past several years, Ranma has been affected by a large variety of magics that left their residue on him. As you know, this would normally do very little besides make him easier to find via scrying magics."

"That may be, but I suspect that something has drastically changed in him."

"Well yes actually, something did recently happen. Somehow after that failed wedding, the magic in his body combined and fused with his soul. -" Nodoka went on to give a brief rundown of her experience with Ranma's magic. Along with listing the magical abilities she was able to identify; she also mentioned the feeling of being guided that made it easier to identify the magics in the first place.

Inari had a multitude of questions in regards to Ranma's magical Ki, but that would have to wait. When Nodoka mention the feeling of being guided, Inari developed a theory. "Nodoka, were you able to identify any magic that created spirit doubles or doppelgangers."

"Yes, several. The **Shadow Aide Incense** , traces of **Mirror Clone** magic from the Mirror Mansion, and the **Founding School of Anything Goes Ying-Yang Thank You Ma'am Personality Splitter**."

 _'I will never understand what went through that moron's head when he names his techniques.'_ Inari thought to herself. "With those magics, especially the **Founding**...that last one, and that feeling of being guided. I believe that the process that was supposed to cure Ranma of his curse may have actually…resulted in him giving birth to his to a child."

This theory made enough sense to her, but Nodoka wanted to know something else. "Inari-sama? How do you know that Ranma has had a child at all?"

Inari's face grew more solemn at the question. The change in tone was alarming to Nodoka as she believed she said something to anger her master. "…Nodoka, I think it's time I tell you why I asked you to marry Genma Saotome. Come with me." The goddess instructed as she walked past Nodoka towards the edge of the deck. "After being married to him I'm sure you've asked yourself this question hundreds of times over the years. You will tell me how Genma was the perfect husband. How he was strong, handsome, charming, responsible, respectable, a true man's man and that he had the makings of a great father."

Once she reached the end of the deck, Inari made a simple rising gesture towards the water. One by one flattop stones began to rise from the waters of the pond. Stepping onto the first stone Inari continued. "You'll then tell me how that changed after Ranma was born. How his looks began to steadily decline with the loss of his hair. How his body began to change from that of a martial artist in his prime to rotund middle-aged man. How his charming nature changed into one that resembled a repulsive buffoon. How he became less and less trustworthy with money, spending it on food and sake. I would even bet that you grew more and more resentful of him to the point where you stopped caring about his wellbeing." Looking back at Nodoka, Inari gave her a knowing smile. "Am I wrong?"

Kitsune were widely known for their loyalty to their lovers. Over the years the love she felt for Genma became clouded by her resentment for him taking Ranma away from her. "N-no, not at all. But-"

"You do not need to explain yourself, Nodoka." Inari gave a hollow laugh as her shoulder drooped. _'I've heard those exact words nearly a hundred times by now.'_

The path of rising stones had led them to the tea house in the center of the pond. Stepping onto solid ground, the goddess's form began to change. Inari's deep red hair began to change color as it unbound itself from her feminine hair style. As his hair was steadily becoming greyer, his face became older and more masculine. The custom-tailored nature-green kimono had transformed into a grey three-piece suit worn with a green tie, matching green handkerchief, and a yellow chrysanthemum in the lapel of his suit.

"Now, before we enter would you like to ask me any questions? I'm sure you have a few by now." Inari asked with his hand resting on the door.

Nodoka had a plethora of questions she had been building up for over a decade now. But there was one question that was most important to her. "Who is Genma to you?"

"…I'm sure you've heard about the Kamakura earthquake back in 1293 that killed over 23,000 humans."

"Yes, and how it was actually a tatarigami attack that was caused by a young and foolish kami. It is said that this kami was punished for their actions by Bishamonten himself. The story has been retold for over seven hundred years now as a warning to never antagonize a tatarigami."

Inari "Since hearing that story, have you ever wondered what happened to that kami?"

"No actually, I…you don't mean…"

"Oh, and one more thing. Under no circumstances are you to mention Ranma." Inari warned as he opened the door to the tea house. The interior was as much as 4 times larger than what the exterior would have one think. Along with the size being different, the inside was also completely different from the outside in terms of its layout.

But what caught her attention was in the center of the room. Held kneeling in place by several large heavy shackles was a stocky man. He wore a white bandana that covered his head, a white martial arts gi with a black belt. Even though she could not see his face, Nodoka had no doubt in her mind that man was her husband, Genma Saotome.

"Genma?" Nodoka said as she changed into her human form.

"Nodoka?!" Genma questioned as he raised his head up towards the sound of the familiar voice. When his tearful eyes met hers, his face contorted into a look of guilt and self-loathing. The man appeared to practically sink in on himself. The shackles that held him down began the pull him further and further onto the floor. It was not until he was practically forced to lay down on his back that the chains stopped. "What are you doing here?! Leave!" He howled in anguish.

Nodoka stopped in place after seeing what was happening. "Genma! Inari-sama, what's happening to him!?"

 **"** **Tsumi no Rensa (Chains of Sin).** He's being held down by the weight of his own guilt. Judging by his reaction, he believes he has gravely wronged you." The chains continued to drag him into the ground again. Nodoka grew alarmed at the sight of her husband being crushed. "But don't worry, I made sure to set something up incase his guilt grew too great." Inari said to ease the woman's heart.

Just as Inari said, a large tub materialized above Genma's head and came crashing down on him. The impact instantly knocked him unconscious, temporarily relieving him of his guilt. The cool water in the tub activated his jusenkyo curse turning the large middle-age man into an even larger panda.

Nodoka and Inari watched as a large bump grew on Genma's head.

"…oops."

"Was that not supposed to happen?"

"More or less…But anyway, with Genma being unconscious it will make it easier for me to tell you what really happened 700 years ago. I owe my daughter-in-law at least that. Now, to fully grasp the whole story, we'll have to start a long time ago. A time when I was only the god of rice and foxes.

 **/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\**

 **Dr. Tofu's Clinic**

 **Morning**

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Laying awake in the recovery room of Dr. Tofu's clinic, Tatewaki Kuno had been deep in thought. His mind had been working non-stop since the prior day. Specifically, right after Ranma Saotome forgave him for all the harassment.

Even though Ranma forgave him, Tatewaki could not come to forgive himself for his behavior. He had been up all-night thinking of a way to make it up to the curse fighter. Eventually, he came up with a way to begin atoning for his actions.

First, he had other things yet settled amongst his peers.

Righting the wrongs against his fellow students at Furinkan High would not be a problem. He could easily send each student a handwritten apology letter, and he has more than enough resources to pay for any damages he may have caused.

Though two students were highlighted in his mind, Akane and Nabiki Tendo.

He owed Akane something more than a simple apology and a measly sum of money. For constantly harassing her in a poor attempt to woo her heart, and inciting all the boys from sports clubs to mob her every morning before school. His family owned a chain of artificial-islands off the coast of Kyushu that they used for summer homes. Maybe one of their beach houses would suffice as an apology?

Nabiki Tendo on the other hand is owe nothing but his contempt. In his contemplation, Tatewaki remembered all the times that, that she-devil had manipulated him. Her lies and orchestrations, all to maximize her own selfish desires. Many of the problems between himself and Ranma were caused by her provocative wordplay. While insane, he simply loathed her, but now sane, his hatred for the coldhearted Tendo had reached new heights.

With his mind made up, Tatewaki stood up from the bed and made his out of the clinic.

"As Kuno, no, as a man I shall restore my honor. I shall make things right." Tatewaki avowed to himself as he left Dr. Tofu's clinic in his hospital gown and bandages. The potential embarrassment at such a thing was completely obstructed by his resolve. The same resolve that had pushed back the sandman's attempts at putting his to rest.

Once he apologizes to the students of Furikan High and Akane gets her new island. Tatewaki would make preparations to prove how deep his desire to repent for his past action to Ranma Saotome.

"I must make haste, this shall be a very" **YAWN** "busy day."

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 **Hibiki Family Home**

 **Morning**

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Sitting on the floor in the in the guest bedroom of the Hibiki family home, Ranma was going over one of the major things his mother had explained in detail to him in his dream. The possibility that he might not be fully human anymore.

Any excitement about his curse and his new magical abilities was overshadowed by this. According to his dreams, he was now something between human and supernatural. This knowledge did not make him happy, sad, angry, and it sure as hell did not scare him. he just did not know how to feel. Without Cologne around, he had nobody he felt was trustworthy enough to go to for advice on the subject. He hated the idea of asking Happosai for help, but the old perv was the only person who might have any clue about his situation.

"Tsk, just my luck." Ranma groaned, making his disapproval at the prospect of asking Happosai for help.

Taking his mind off of the future annoyance, he began going over his new magical abilities. As Ranma was about to test his ability to change his hair length and color, something outside caught the corner of his eye.

Looking out the guest bedroom window, he saw Ryoga wandering around in the empty lot behind his house with his umbrella in hand. The directionally challenged boy appeared to be looking for something.

He was tempted to let the boy get lost own his on. He knew that if he went down their they would just end up fighting. It would be smarter to just let him wander off in hopes that his temper would cool by the time they met back up again...

Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose. _'As if that would ever happen.'_ He thought to himself as he opened the window and leapt down into the open lot in his tank top and boxers. "Hey, aniki. What's up?" He asked nonchalantly while tensing his body for the inevitable.

"Ranma!" Ryoga growled out as he gripped his umbrella tighter. "We are **Not** brothers!"

Rolling his eye, he willed himself to change to his female form. "You just don't want to be rightfully called a sibling abuser, o-nii-chan." she enunciated with a smirk.

That was enough to set the fanged boy over the edge. Ryoga's grip tightened on the butt of his umbrella handle. "Shut up!" He yelled as he threw his umbrella towards Ranma.

If it was anybody else, they might have been intimidated. Ryoga's umbrella was weighted to the point where simply dropping it on the dirt would cause a crater. At the speeds it was traveling, it would easily pierce thought a house before stopping.

Ranma's smirk never wavered as she switched back to a male again. He moved to snatch the umbrella out of the air, planning to use the umbrella against its owner again.

The ponytailed boy lightly gripping onto the tip of the umbrella with both hands, halting it mid-flight. "Thanks for the- **ngh!"** He grunts, feeling a sudden shock of pain in his hands.

He looked down at the tip of the umbrella and saw that a small quad bladed spear tip had cut both of his hands open. In his distraction, Ranma failed to notice two very important things. The umbrella was much lighter than he remembered and Ryoga was now charging at him.

The fanged boy slammed the flattened tip of his weapon into Ranma's stomach, forcing him to let go of the weaponized umbrella/scabbard. The force from the impact was great enough to send the boy flying back into a pile of wooden planks sitting at the edge of the lot.

"Nice catch." Ryoga taunted as he re-sheathed what appeared to be a cross between a kagi-less jutte and a Chinese style sword breaker. "I've been up all-night working on this. I was going for something non-lethal. I had a feeling my mother wouldn't be too happy with me if you got hurt too bad."

Ranma stood up from the debris, taking that attack as a hint that he should take things more seriously. Wasting no time to lick his wounds, he charged at Ryoga.

Meeting Ranma's eyes and seeing how serious he was, the lost boy took a wide, sturdy stance to ready himself for the attack. Their eyes were locked the entire time until Ranma was within lunging distance, when he suddenly disappeared from his sight.

"Wha-" Was all he got out before his legs were yank out from under him.

Ranma had tricked Ryoga into focusing on his eyes instead of his body movements. Using this opportunity, he fell into a slide that went between the directionally challenged boy's wide legged stance. While in the slide, he gripped onto the other boy's legs. The speed he had built up from his initial run was more than enough to takeout his footing.

Seeing that he was about to smash face first into the ground, Ryoga acted fast. Tossing his umbrella off to the side, he shot both of his arms in front of himself. His arms were left imbedded into the dirt, but that was far better than eating it.

Ryoga was now anchored to the ground. This coupled with the momentum Ranma had in his run, left the two ended in a raised **Boston Crab Submission Hold.**

"Come on Ryoga this is stupid. Can't we talk this out?" Ranma asked in an attempt to be diplomatic. But of course, his words fell on deaf ears.

With Ranma now sitting on his back and holding his ankles, Ryoga was at his mercy for as long as he did nothing. There was no way he would allow himself to lose like this. From his awkward handstand, Ryoga lifted his arms out of the ground. Used his great strength he launched himself and Ranma high up into the air.

Sighing, Ranma let go of Ryoga's legs and tucked his legs into his chest. "Damnit Ryoga!" He thought to himself as he maneuvered his body into a series of flips with gradually increasing speed. _'I need to end this fast before this fight leaves the lot. This moron might be tough, but let's see how he likes **THIS**!" _

Ryoga was free from Ranma's submission hold. With that freedom he righted himself midair so as to face his foe. A major mistake on his part.

The bandana clad boy was met with a powerful axe kick to the head that slammed him back down into the earth face first with enough force to imbed the upper half of his body into the ground. His legs, sticking out of the dirt, hung limply. This signified to Ranma that, that kick might have actually been enough to knock Ryoga out.

Softly landing on the ground a few feet away from Ryoga, Ranma began brushing the dirt off himself. "Hmph. I guess he wasn't kidding when he said he's been up all-night."

"All right, let's get you inside." Ranma grabbed onto Ryoga's legs to pull him out of the dirt. But he was stopped by a muffled voice followed by an explosion of dirt and rock shrapnel. Caught off guard, Ranma only managed to dodge the brunt of the attack by leaping away. The few nicks he caught on his arms and legs were superficial. Looking back at the cloud of dirt, Ranma made an educated guess that this fight might last a bit longer than he hoped.

Ryoga, scowling, and half covered in dirt, charged out of the dirt cloud towards a his waiting opponent, his improved and enhanced umbrella in hand.

The melee between the two adept masters of Anything Goes Martial Arts was display of opposing styles that complemented one another. Ranma's speed and agility against Ryoga's strength and durability. A clash reminiscent of the dragon and the white tiger, the eternal rivals of ancient legend.

Ryoga, in true tiger-like fashion, pushed the offensive. His powerful punches, kicks, and the swings from his umbrella met nothing but air as Ranma dodged and maneuvered around every attack. As frustrating as it was to not be able to hit his target, he knew it was only a matter of time before one of them made a mistake that the other would capitalize on.

Ranma was stuck countering Ryoga's assault, unable to mount any form of offense. His dodges and deflections were acrobatic and they were expertly executed. In his position, if he launched an attack, even the speed based Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken, it would be a major gamble. There was no say in if Ryoga would simple use his durability to power through. He needed a major mistake to capitalize on.

And so, it happened.

With a lunging upward swing of his umbrella, Ryoga managed to cut open Ranma's tank top with the spiked tip of his umbrella. Though the attack was not initially successful, it did succeed in throwing the ponytailed boy off balance.

Before Ranma could leap away to gain distance, and possibly mount his own offense, Ryoga threw a desperate punch, backed with all of his bodyweight. The only impressive thing about this sloppy attack was that it actually hit.

Ranma folded in on the fist buried in his stomach. Ryoga took this opportunity to put the agile fighter in a **Guillotine Choke**. Before he was met with too much resistance, the fanged boy lifted his rival up above his head. Flashing his fangs with a malicious smile, he leapt high up into the air with Ranma now firmly restrained in his hands.

"Let's see how **you** like the taste of dirt!" Ryoga said as they came back down to earth, aiming to perform another wrestling move on Ranma, the **Powerbomb.** He slammed the ponytailed boy back first into the ground, cratering it with the force of the impact. The elation he felt at finally landing a good hit almost made him forget why he was so angry in the first place.

The attack itself knocked the wind out of Ranma's lungs. In a desperate attempt to get some space to catch his breath, he threw both of his feet forward into Ryoga's stomach. It was not much, but it was enough to launch him away.

Ranma saw that this was his opportunity go on the offensive. Wasting no more time than necessary in steadying his breath, he charged at Ryoga using his full speed. His body blurred as his legs tore up the ground beneath his feet.

Ryoga, unharmed by Ranma's kick, landed with ease several meters from the crater he made with his last attack. The directionally challenged boy's sixth sense flared like alarm bells just before a blur struck him, allowing for just enough time for him to cover his face.

This was a miscalculation as the attack struck him in the torso, but he was unwilling to fall down. Ryoga dug his feet into the ground. Whatever hit him had a lot of power behind it, and continued to push him back. The ground was further damaged as ten meters of earth was gouged out of it with Ryoga's feet. When he finally stopped moving, Ryoga felt something lightly tapping on his arms.

"Hey Ryoga, can you move your arms for a sec.?"

"huh?" * **THUUUUUUD~! ***

Just as his brother dropped his arms, Ranma unleashed several rapid fire **Kachū Tenshin Amagurikens** directly into Ryoga's unguarded face.

The onslaught of thousands of sudden and unexpected punches broke through his natural durability as if it not there. Unlike in the dugout a few days ago, there was no way for him to simply power through this attack.

Each individual hit was only a small fraction of the full power of one of Ranma's punches. They were shallow, relatively weak blows that did only surface damage, but when over 500 of them land on target in under a single second the damage will stack up fast.

After 15 seconds of nonstop punching, the barrage finally ended. Through the fog that was gradually taking hold, Ryoga could make out the silhouette of someone with a brightly glowing arm.

 **"Haganeken no Teikoku Ryū!" (Steel Fist of the Imperial Dragon!)**

Those were the last words he heard before being put to sleep. The 8 straight hours he spent working in his father's workshop took its toll on his stamina. The winner of the fight was guaranteed from the start. It would be a while before he woke up.

Ranma plopped down on the dirt next to the unconscious boy to get some rest of his own after those final attacks. He never liked ending fights like that without a good reason. Simply steamrolling your opponents makes for a poor learning experience. _'least I came up with a name for that attack.'_

 ***Clap Clap Clap*** "Do you two always have such energetic fights? Regardless, I'm glad to see that your arm stayed in its socket this time, Ranma."

The aforementioned boy looked up to see an older man. He was wearing a grey and green three-piece suit with a yellow flower in the lapel. "Do I know you?" He asked

"My apologies, my name is Isao Yoshida, CEO of Kaizen, but more importantly your grandfather."

"…Grandfather?" That word was the only one that stuck out to him, and so the wheels began to turn in his head. If this man was his grandfather that could mean he was a kitsune like his mother. "You wouldn't happen to be-"

"On your father's side? Yes. But oddly enough, I have come to you concerning the whereabouts of your mother."

Even with his former theory dead in the water, the man's words were more than enough to hold his undivided attention. Besides, this was the first time he has met one of his grandparents. "What do you know about my mom, uh...grandpa?"

Isao smiled at how accepting Ranma was of the idea of him being his grandfather. _'I wonder what his reaction would be if he finds out who I really am.'_ "I know a lot of things about Nodoka and some of her…quirks. I come bearing good news in regards to recent developments that you might find interesting. But, let's discuss this inside."

"Alright by me."

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In the kitchen of the Hibiki's humble home, Ranma, Shirokuro, and the peacefully unconscious Ryoga were sharing a table with one of the wealthiest and most influential businessmen in all of Japan, Isao Yoshida, CEO of Kaizen and father of Genma Saotome. But aside from Isao being his grandfather, Ranma was only interested in one thing.

"So, grandpa, what do you know about my mom? **"**

"I know that she is a 136-year-old myobu kitsune and is the mother of you and your older brother, Ryoga Hibiki. Upon request by Inari-Okami himself, she married my estranged son, your father, Genma Saotome. After you and Genma left on that training trip of yours she spent the next 14 years as a homemaker for both the Saotome and Hibiki homes. When Genma stopped sending her letters of your martial arts progress she became restless and began searching for you until she caught your scent one day and met you by 'accident.' For the next few months she pretended to remain oblivious to your Jusenkyo curse until you proved yourself manly enough. After you and Ryoga discovered what she was, Nodoka was forced to leave you and return back to Inari-Okami's service, and the she will be allowed to return back to your lives once you father…or mother, a child. But, I didn't come here to tell you things you most likely already knew. I came to inform you that Nodoka is now free to return you and your brother."

"Really? That's great!" Ranma paused. "But didn't I need to have a kid first? Did something change?"

"Yes and no, and that is why I came here. Aside from finally getting to meet my grandson of course. Apparently, something in the last few days that resulted in you becoming a father, or mother. It's hard to tell with so little that is known."

The news was a shock to the ponytailed boy. "…I'm a what!? When!? How!?"

"A parent. Sometime three days ago. Magic. I suspect it has something to do with that new Ki of yours. No single creature in existence exists with 'magical Ki.' Whatever you did to obstruct the process that would have cured you of the magics foreign to your body combined them instead. I suspect that this ended up birthing a living entity that now resides inside of your soul. Because this entity now lives inside of you its magic mixes with your body's natural Ki, creating this unique form of energy you now wield. But that is just my theory. Only time will reveal the truth."

"Even if your theory is right. How does that make me a parent? It just means I have some magical creature living inside of me."

"Simple, it's because one of the more potent magics that was in your body was a complete copy of the yin part of your soul. The rest of the magics, including your Jusenkyo curse must have been used to create its body. I believe this is how your daughter was 'born' per se."

"O-okay, that makes sense." _'About as much sense as anything else in my life...'_ "So, I have a magically born magical kid, who grants me magical powers, and lives inside of my soul."

"There is also the possibility that she physically resembles your female form and has the personality of the yin side of your soul. I would say It's more like you have a magical daughter who is also your twin sister while simultaneously being half of you."

"…You know grandpa, that may actually be the weirdest thing I have ever heard."

"I'm sensing a 'but' in there somewhere."

"But, I wouldn't be surprise if you're right."

"You have been taking all this in stride. Most people would not be able to handle such bizarre news. You seem quite nonchalant about all of this."

"If something strange didn't happened for a week then I'd start worrying. Nothing bad has happened so far, so I don't see any reason to start worrying about it now. But I am curious about how you know so much about me and my curse. And If you knew I was your grandson why did you wait until now to speak with me."

"Like your mother, I was restricted on how I was allowed to interact with you. I was only able observe your life in Japan from afar. The only major interaction I had on your life was before you were born. I was able to persuade Happosai to train Genma. I see that decision may have paid off in the end."

"I'm not sure I should be thanking you for that. If you've been watching me all these years then you'd know how much of a pain the old fart is."

"Trust me, I know just how unpleasant he is, but you can't honestly say that everything about meeting him was negative."

"Just most things."

"Heh, I concede to that." Isao looked at his watch and frowned. "My apologies. You'll have to excuse me, I have a meeting to get to." He stood up from the table and handed Ranma a card. "If you need anything here is my address and phone number. I have much to make up for, so feel free to ask me for anything."

"Hey grandpa, I have one more question before you leave."

"Ask away."

"What's with that new house over in Shakujii Park? I know you're rich and all, but you'd need Kuno levels of money to buy that place."

"That land was apparently given to our family a few centuries ago for some heroic feat of martial arts, I believe. Since I still have the deed to the land, I had that house built as a belated wedding present for your parents. I sent you a few gifts stored away in a safe place below the main house too. Think of them as late birthday gifts." Isao said as he and Ranma walked to the front door. "It was nice finally getting to chat with you Ranma. Take care."

"It was nice meeting you too, grandpa." With his grandfather gone, Ranma went back to the kitchen. Patting Shirokuro on the head "Hey girl, you mind keeping an eye on sleeping beauty for a little while?"

"Arf!"

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you." _'Now to find some place to practice.'_

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Back in the empty lot where he had fought Ryoga a few hours ago, Ranma was a blur of motion refining his new kata that should allow him to fight multiple decently strong opponents simultaneously. He had been working on this kata nonstop for four hours by this point, and his hard work has finally begun to pay off. Unlike the rough patchwork of different styles that hardly fit together, his further refinement of it has resulted in much of the kinks being worked out. It was almost like some kind of intricate swirling dance utilizing great feats of acrobatics and his mastery of balance. By his own estimation, he figured that he should have it functional by tomorrow, and mastered by Friday.

With that, the ponytailed boy slowed down to a stop and wiped the sweat from his brow. _'I guess that's good enough for now. Might as well check up on Ryoga. He should be awake by now.'_

Ranma made his way inside to the kitchen where he left the older boy to find him still fast asleep. Shirokuro was resting by the legs of the chair.

"Damnit, I was hoping he'd wake up by now." He said to himself as he adjusted his sweat soaked clothes. _'I need to head back to_ _Kinshi Mori to get a new pair a clothes. I'm not gonna spend the rest of the day in these if I don't have to.'_ Doing what they came here to do in the first place, Ranma went up to Ryoga's room to pack a few clothes and camping supplies for the directionally challenged boy.

He was tempted to borrow a set of clothes, but he decided against it. He knew the magic would change them to fit his body, and he knew that he would be locked as a girl before they made it back to Kinshi Mori. So, he opted not to, to avoid the headache that Ryoga would give him for girlifying a set of his clothes. _'Maybe as a prank when he cools off a bit.'_

With the lost boy's new travel pack ready, Ranma walked back into the kitchen and slung Ryoga over his shoulder. Patting Shirokuro on the head. "It was nice seeing you again girl, but it about time me and sleepyhead head out." With that said, Ranma, with Ryoga still in dreamland, left the home in the care of Shirokuro's capable paws and began roof hopping back to Kinshi Mori.

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 **Not Even Twenty Minutes Later**

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At the outskirts of Tokyo something strange caught Ranma's eye. A crowd of people where gathering on the sidewalk. Out of curiosity, Ranma leapt onto the roof of the building the crowd was in front of to get a better look.

Down in the center of the crowd of people was a person lying face down on the concrete sidewalk. It appeared to be a tall, brown-haired male. He was wearing a blue and black kendo uniform. In his left hand he tightly held onto a sheathed katana and a loosely bound scroll.

Ranma immediately recognized who it was. "Kuno?" He laid Ryoga down on the roof before dropping to the ground to get a better understanding of what happened, and went up to someone who had just gotten off of their phone from calling 119. "Sorry to interrupt, but Do you know what happened to him?"

The suited man looked at the teen, and noticed the martial arts style apparel. It was not a secret that Nerima had a very active population of powerful, and highly destructive, martial artists who could kill the average man with a punch. feigning dauntlessness, he answered. "I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I just saw him stumbling down the sidewalk, mumbling something under his breath like a drunkard and then he just collapsed."

The ponytail boy acknowledged the older man as he went over to where Tatewaki laid. "Thanks."

"H-hey don't touch him! You could make it worse! Wait for the paramedics!"

"If someone's passed out, you can't just leave them face down." Ranma informed as he rolled Tatewaki over onto his back and noticed that the kendoka's bandages had begun to turn red. _'Idiot. He must have opened up his wounds from the other day. What the hell is he doing walking around?'_ He took the sword and scroll from Tatewaki's hand to keep blood from getting on it. When he gripped onto the scroll it unbound itself and opened. Before Ranma could do anything the parchment began emitting a purple light.

The people gawked as they saw the pigtailed boy begin to glow with a golden light, tinged with brilliant blue. The other teen who laid on the ground with bloodied bandages also began emitting a purple light of his own, one to match the color of the scroll.

Quickly, the light from ponytailed boy's light began to spread over the injured kendoka, becoming even brighter, and forcing them to look away lest they go blind from the radiance.

When the light faded there was no trace of either of the boys. The crowd was left in confusion as they had no clue what just happened.

Up on the rooftop of the building, Ranma watched as the scroll he had just taken from Tatewaki burned away. "...Great."

Turning to Tatewaki, Ranma saw that whatever just happened at least stabilized the boy. "Maybe it was just some kind of scroll of healing magic or something?" He tried to rationalize. "Whatever it was, it couldn't be too bad…"

Ranma, now carrying both Ryoga and Tatewaki over his shoulders, was back on track to Kinshi Mori. "Damnit Kuno, you better know what the hell that thing was."

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 **Fukushima Prefecture**

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In the afternoon sky, a white duck could be seen struggling to fly through the air. Every now and then the duck stopped flapping its wings resulting in it going into a deep dive only to erratically start flapping again to regain some of its lost altitude. But the dives were becoming more and more frequent.

Mousse had been flying nonstop since he got to the end of that river trying to find Tokyo again and restart his search for Ranma. Due to the **Mark of Treason** placed on him by Shampoo and Cologne, he has had very few chances to get any decent sleep in the past few days. Fatigue was beginning to set in, and Mousse was having a harder time thinking straight, let alone fly straight.

To keep his mind active and awake, the dual cursed boy had been busy thinking of what to do when, or if, he got Ranma to help him. He considered everything from a stealthy approach to open conflict, even if he had to do it all by himself. But, as his mind began to grow tired his thoughts devolved into a monotonous and repetitious mantra of 'Just…keep…flying.' His mind was practically fried at this point. Then the inevitable happened. As Mousse's blinking began to slow down, his eyelids eventually refused to open again.

From hundreds of feet up in the sky, Mousse fell asleep and began plummeting down to the forested lands below.

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Springing through the trees, Ranma was silently lamenting under his breath about the extra dead weight he had to carry.

"These jerks better be grateful for this." he mumbled under his breath

Much to Ranma's annoyance, for the past few hours Ryoga and Tatewaki have not been calm or quiet sleepers, especially Tatewaki.

The swordsman kept muttering nonsense about a kishomon and continuous pleas for forgiveness. From what Ranma could remember from early in his training trip with his father, a kishomon was some sort of blood oath between a samurai and his lord. But those were the only details he could recounted as Ryoga was not making it easy for him to think clearly either.

Though he was fast asleep, he was wriggling around and making noises as if he were in a serious fight. By the sounds of it, he was losing, badly.

Ranma did not care if Ryoga was having a bad dream or not. His movements were making it harder for him to move at great speeds through the trees. He did not want to slam face first into a tree again and join his companions in dreamland.

One particularly sharp twitch from Ryoga nearly made Ranma's worries a reality and pushed his frustration over the edge. "Will you two quit it!"

And like a light switch, Ryoga and Tatewaki ceased all movements and sounds aside from some light snoring.

"What Th- **UWAH!?"** Ranma's confusion was cut off by even more confusion as he was suddenly struck in the face by an unknown object. Unable to see and moving too fast, Ranma lost his footing and slammed into a tree and smashed through it before coming to a stop on the forest floor.

Sitting up from his spot on the ground, the ponytailed fighter quickly yanked off what ever it was that was on his face.

All it took was a quick glance at what he held in his hands before he recognized what and who it was. "…You have got to be kidding me…" In his hand he held a thoroughly knocked out white feathered duck with a massive bump forming on its head.

Even with the glasses, Ranma knew that this duck was Mousse, the male Joketsuzoku tribesman and Yazunichuan curse bearer. Mousse, like many of his rivals, had a knack for finding him even in the strangest of places. And you just don't see many white feathered ducks in the wilds of Japan.

Ranma looked around for any signs of Shampoo and Cologne. Seeing no signs of the two, he turned his attention to Ryoga and Tatewaki, and saw that they too had large bumps forming on their heads.

Suddenly, an idea came to him. Looking down at the curse hidden weapon master, he shrugged his shoulders. He could not think of a reason why he should just leave him. And Ranma put Mousse atop Ryoga's travel pack. He went over and threw the two other unconscious boys over his shoulders, and jumped into the trees continuing on towards his and Ryoga's original destination.

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 **The Southern Torii of Kinshi Mori**

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Though faster than when she was led by Happosai, Ranma was still slowed down by the extra weight of the limp bodies of her snoring rivals. When she finally made it, she paused and stood at the edge of the torii gate. The cursed fighter would never openly admit it, but she was a little nervous about crossing the gate again. She did not fully remember what happened the first time she crossed it. The only thing she could remember was that it hurt...a lot. She was no stranger to pain. It was almost like an old friend that reminded her that she was still alive. But it still hurt...a lot.

"Sigh, I didn't come back here just to stand around." And so, she threw Ryoga, Mousse, and Tatewaki across the torii to see what would happen.

Nothing happened to Ryoga, who had crossed the gate with her the first time.

Mousse was immediately returned to his true, naked form. Ranma saw just how roughed up he was with bruises all over his face and body. Not to mention the weird blood red chain-like scarring that began to disappear as he and Tatewaki gritted their teeth and writhed in pain. He saw as the magics that had saturated Mousse and Tatewaki over the years was ripped out of their bodies. The sight physically made her cringe with a sort of phantom pain as she was reminded of how she felt when she went through the first time.

She saw as a ghostly, yet soggy duck formed from Mousse's chest. The duck was tightly wrapped in blood red chains that held its wings closed. She saw as the duck panicked when its body was torn away and turned into a dark grey mana. The grey mana then washed over Mousse, healing his bruised and battered face and body.

Switching her attention to Tatewaki, Ranma's eyes bulged when she saw a cherry tree with a demonic version of the swordsman's head sprouting from its trunk.

 _'Oh…this thing…'_. She especially hated how it silently screamed the words 'sacrifice-girl!' as it was ripped apart and dissolved into purple mana. Unlike Mousse's curse, she did not feel the least bit sad when it went the way of the duck.

When the last bit of mana washed across Tatewaki, Ranma crossed the torii to see if they were alright. Relieved that nothing happened to her, she saw to it to put some clothes on Mousse. The city may be nearly empty, but she did not want to risk being seen carrying around some naked guy. That was one rumor she sure as hell did not want being made of her.

Picking everyone up again, Ranma carried the other teens through the gatehouse. And was met with a bustling city full of life. Bye the time she made it down the stairs, the ponytailed girl had attracted a lot of attention in the immediate area. The looks she got mostly varied between the curiosity of seeing a stranger to that of seeing a stranger carrying three unconscious teenagers. But she had a feeling that some were scoping her out, seeing if she was a strong fighter, or just checking her out.

Trying to ignore the feeling of being watched, Ranma kept walking. The deeper into the city she went, the fewer the number of people really paid her any notice aside from a cursory glance. She figured that it was not uncommon for someone to carry around a bunch of unconscious people. It made sense to her since the city was apparently full of martial artists. Getting knocked out every once in a while, was to be expected.

Aside from that, Ranma was taking her time and walking at a slower pace so she could actually take in the city now that there were people in it. After seeing a few of the dojos the young master made up her mind. _'Man, when I drop these bozos off I gotta check out some of these places.'_

It was not until she made it to the apartment that Happosai gave then that people in the area began to pay more attention to her and whispered amongst themselves.

One of the men in a nearby group of people dawned in martial arts apparel took immediate notice to the ponytailed girl's actions. "Hey kid! That place belongs to one of the new masters! What do you think you're doing going in there?" The other young adult martial artists in this group began to take notice as well.

Glancing at them, Ranma saw that most of them wore clothes that incorporated several different uniforms from various martial arts. Possibly as a way to show off how many different styles they knew to intimidate lesser skill practitioners, or because they just thought it looked cool. "Happosai said I earned it." She informed them with an even tone to her voice.

"Heehahaha!" He laughed and turned to the others in his group. "You hear what this tart just said? The Grandmaster gave her that house! Heehahaha!"

"It's probably because that Yuuka Tanaka bastard's a master now. Every runt and pipsqueak too young to even have peach fuzz thinks they're hot shit all of a sudden." Another person in the group guessed.

Loud enough to be heard, one of the women of the group nudged the lanky man next to her and asked, "Hey, I didn't see her fight in the tournament. Did you?"

He looked at the younger martial artist a little more closely now and shook his head. "Nope." He answered plainly, but loud enough to be heard by the rest of the martial artist group.

The original man who called her out scrunched his face in irritation. "Tsk, Hey kid! Who do you think you are!? You didn't even fight in the tournament, yet you have the gall to try and claim that house!?"

Ranma saw that the situation was degrading quickly. These people were drawing more attention and causing a crowd to form around them. It had gotten to the point where a fight may be unavoidable.

"Are you even listening, punk!?"

"Yeah, I'm listening. And I already told you that I earned this house. You can ask the old man yourself."

"I have a better idea. If you don't leave and go back to where ever you came from…"

"What?"

"We make you." The fighter threatened as he gestured to himself and the 10 others in his group. All of whom were at least several years older than the ponytailed girl herself, and each sported gear and apparel related to several common martial arts from around the world.

Ranma laid her companions and Ryoga's travel pack on the ground. "hmm…no."

The older man cracked his knuckles. "Don't think we'll go easy on you just because you're hot!"

Taking up a nonchalant stance, Ranma smirked. "I wouldn't want it any other way."

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High up in the main keep of the castle a little gnome of a man was watching the one-sided beatdown from the comfort of his study's balcony.

Sitting on the balcony railing with his pipe in hand, Happosai was enjoying the show. _'This is going better than I had initially hoped. I would never have imagined that he would bring those two with him. If I can think up some half decent reason for declaring them practitioners of Anything Goes like I did with that Hibiki boy. I can-"_

The door to the study creaked open. "Happy-sama? How is the paperwork going?" Came a voice belonging to a young girl. Much, much to young for Happosai's taste.

Sitting at his desk, the old grandmaster's hands were a blur as he was busy working on one of the dozens of piles of paper work that had been building up since he left to blow off some steam nearly two decades ago. "Oh, oh it's going just fine, Kazuko-chan."

"That's good to hear. At this rate you'll be done before the inauguration of the new masters! You really are amazing, Happy-sama! 20 years' worth of paperwork done in under a week!" The child's eyes began to sparkle with admiration at such a great feat of bureaucratic efficiency. "Oh, sorry for interrupting, I'll let you get back to it." The little girl left.

 _'That child is going to be the death of me. Self-appointing herself as my secretary after her parents passed in my absence. Now I've been forced to take over as her guardian.'_ " **Sigh**. Curse my kind and good-natured heart."

Returning to the balcony to continue watching the fight between his disciples, Happosai was disappointed that the fight had already ended, but glad to see that his star pupil had dealt with his underclassmen without trouble.

"I'm sure word of this will reach Yuuka Tanaka in no time. I wonder how he'll react to finding out that I gave Ranma his house. Hehehe-"

Kazuko walked through the door to Happosai's study once more. This time she was carrying a large stack of papers with a note on top.

"Kazuko-chan, please knock before entering next time." He called to her from behind his desk.

"Sorry Happy-sama, but a tall woman told me to give you these. She said it was really, really important."

 _'Tall woman?'_ "Did this tall woman have red hair? And was she wearing a green kimono?"

"Yes, and yes."

 _'Drat!'_ "Well let me see what she brought me." Once Kazuko put the papers on his desk, he gave her a warm smile. "Thank you, now run along little one. I have to keep busy or else this work will never get done you know."

"Yes sir, Happy-sama sir!" Kazuko saluted, and ran out of the room again.

'Now, what did Inari-chan give me…' He opened the envelope atop the stack of papers. All it contained was a single sliver of paper little bigger than a fortune cookie fortune.

'I warned you about harassing my grandson. Enjoy the extra paperwork. I hope the panties were worth it.'

'-Inari'

Happosai looked at the fresh stack of papers taller than himself, then back to the note. " **Sigh"** Flicking his wrist, the aged Grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts brought forth his kiseru pipe. Filling it with finely shredded tobacco, he snapped his fingers and lit the pipe with a flicker of superheated Ki. Taking a long draw from his pipe, he leaned back in his chair and blew a large cloud of smoke and smiled. "...They were."

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 **End of Chapter 4**

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 **Epilogue**

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That's the end of chapter 4

Ranma and Ryoga's brotherhood is off to a very rocky start. It will be a while before they build that bond, but it will happen. As things are right now, Ryoga will refuse to acknowledge Ranma as his brother, and will be quite annoyed whenever Ranma brings it up. Ranma is more willing to see Ryoga and himself as brothers, but even he wont accept it at first. As far as either of them are concerned, they're still the same rivals as they were before. Just with an added sibling rivalry when ever Nodoka is around.

It's also confirmed that Ranma and Ryoga will go through a growth spurt over the next 6 months in story. Ryoga will become quite tall by the end of it. Ranma in both form will also grow substantially in terms of height. With his female form receiving the largest growth spurt due his mother being a kitsune and his grandfather being a fertility deity. And boy does she grow.

In regards to Ranma being related to a god, and the general power scaling. One, believe me, this rabbit hole is much deeper, and two, Happosai will be the most powerful character in the story for a very, very long time. According to the manga, he knows every fighting style in existence. (whether he remembers it on the spot is another story) Also, going by Soun's words in regards to Happosai's full power. He stated that it would take an army of twin pantyhose taro's to fight evenly with Happosai. How much is that? I took the Japanese Imperial Army at it height then multiplied it by two. He is one of the strongest mortals on earth.

Now that Mousse's curse is broken what will he do? I have a few ideas swimming around in my head, but I'll leave it as a surprise. Just know that it will result in him joining them on the globetrotting adventure I promised.

Oh and that scroll that Tatewaki had? Let's just say Yin had something to do with it.

Yin, as I'll be calling her for the time being, is exactly what her name implies. She is a copy of the female side of Ranma's soul. She is a more tame version of how she appeared in the anime due to the fact she is one with Ranma. She's pretty much in heaven. She does have romantic feelings for Ranma, and will definitely push for it whenever she gets the chance. But, Ranma sees her as his daughter/sister, so that relationship ain't gonna happen. Wont stop her from trying though.

Also don't be fooled. Yin still extremely wrathful, and unlike Ranma, she does have a grudge against Ryoga, Mousse, Tatewaki, and anyone who has harmed them in the past. Unless stopped, she will seek vengeance against them whenever she gets the chance. From the comforts of Ranma's soul of course. (for now)

Now that we're back in Kinshi Mori, we'll finally see what this martial arts city is all about! Next chapter.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Chapter 5 is now underway.


End file.
